ABSTRACT
It is hard to raise fi nance today without some form of environmental or social assessment. As we will discuss, the motives for such ‘sustainability’ considerations in fi nancial investment decisions are mixed. Many commercial loans now routinely contain an environmental credit risk assessment and investment portfolios contain some form of environmental and social risk consideration (Coulson, 2002 ; Pearce and Ganzi, 2003 ; Scholtens, 2009 ). On the other hand, niche products have been developed to refl ect an ethical preference for how money is invested and the consequences that investment has on the environment and society. For example, premium loan rates and conditions are offered on mortgages for environmentally sensitive home improvements and investors are offered a range of specialist socially responsible investment fund opportunities (Sparkes, 2002 ).
