Bad news for those hoping to protect the environment and global human rights by making a tidy sum on the stock market:
New research has shown that
most "ethical" or "socially responsible" investment funds aren't. To make more of a buck (and compete in the marketplace), most of the funds surveyed invested in fossil fuels, companies with histories of human-rights violation and, in one case, tobacco companies. They rationalise their decisions as investing in the "best of sector", i.e., the least evil company in a particular sector.
(Btw, which company is the "best of sector" in the high-tech armaments industry? Boeing. Lockheed or Raytheon?)
The CIS have been arguing this for a while, and I agree with them. Corporate interests and social/environmental interests are almost totally exclusive of each other. And where they overlap, it's accidental.