(May 29 – 13:25 ET) – Ethical Funds Inc. has expanded its website to provide the “most complete description of how socially responsible mutual funds apply social and environmental criteria to the investment decision-making process.”
“We want Canadians to understand what socially responsible investment is designed to achieve,” said Robert Walker, vice-president Ethics Policy and Research. “Our hope is that by expanding our Web site and providing this information, people will recognise socially responsible investment as both an opportunity to earn investment income and as a tool for progressive change. We also hope that people will view Ethical Funds as their first investment choice.”
The website now describes corporate dialogue and proxy voting as integral components of the Ethical Funds approach to socially responsible investment (SRI). “Some people believe that SRI is a simple matter of saying one company is ‘good’ and another is ‘bad,’ and using these assessments in a passive way to construct investment portfolios,” said Walker. “In fact, this simple approach represents a fundamental misunderstanding of SRI. It doesn’t do justice to the challenges corporations face as large organizations; and it doesn’t do justice to the complexity or range of issues that concern socially responsible investors.”
-IE Staff