How responsible is socially responsible investing?
Paul Hawken stirs debate with a probing critique of ethical investment funds Jurriaan Kamp | March 2005 issue Ten years ago when sustainable business and socially responsible investing were as yet unknown terms I was at a conference listening to a lecture by the chairman of Britain s Cooperative Bank. He asked the audience a penetrating question: do you know what your bank does with your money? I d never thought about it. My experience was more or less as follows: My money was deposited into my account and it stayed there until I decided what to do with it. The banker s burning argument made it clear that this was not the case. Banks continually use their customers money to make more money and in this process they do things that their customers if they were asked would never sanction. For example, my bank may invest my money in a weapons manufacturer that supplies arms to a regime that oppresses its country s citizens or in a plant that makes chemical products I expressly choose not to
