Socially Responsible Investment

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 1,7, European School of Business Reutlingen (Hochschule Reutlingen), language: English, abstract: The ecologic crisis of our Planet is foreseeable. Making money with it, or even better making money by preventing the disaster, will sell. This thesis shall evaluate the effectiveness of environmentally friendly investments and provide an outlook on future perspectives. The topic has become very popular due to a general reorientation to ethical values and particularly, because of the questionable ethical behavior of many financial players in the current world economic crisis. The indicators reveal a strong and continuous growth in the market of environmentally friendly investments. For this reason, the financial sector now copes with the topic more intensively. Whether this leads to improvements for investors through stronger performance or for managers of sustainable projects due to better financial conditions depends on the developments of standardization and the quality assessment processes. This work starts with the clearing of uncertainties related to the core terminology and presents the numerous investment possibilities with their corresponding ecological impact. The main challenge the environmentally friendly investment market is facing, is the need for more transparency; in the assessment criteria and their weighting, in methods, and in the application of funds. Subsequently, the credibility of these investments has to be increased. These statements are confirmed by a survey (cf. chapter 6). The survey reveals furthermore that financial consultants regard the issue as relevant for their job, but lack information to promote these investments. There is an urgent need to implement new ideas in order to lower the risks for the environment and to satisfy the financial market s need at the same time. Therefore, concepts are presented that try to meet these demands. The focus lies on a concept as holistic as a Life Cycle Assessment and as measurable as the eMergy coefficient.