insure & invest

Green banking, like green mortgages, is difficult given the number of finance groups that are still 'building societies' i.e. owned by their members as mutual organisations.

With all the restictions of building society investment rules under the Building Societies Act, they are getting fewer by the day.

Many finance groups have now demutualised to limited companies as banking operations and do not have the investment restrictions imposed under the Building Society Act.

Active policy

There are still finance groups who make donations to climate control organisations to offset their own emissions and there are finance groups who have an active policy for managing emissions and becoming more ethically friendly.

Others replant their own forests, use only sustainable forests for their paper or indeed use recycled materials.

Why does green banking matter?

Banks and buildings societies and how they operate have a huge impact on the World, both locally and globally.

There are a range of ethical and policy questions both locally and internationally which need to be considered such as:

• Third World debt
• Lending to the arms trade
• Financing in regimes where human rights issues are in question
• Environmental issues
• Charitable giving, and support for the community
• Social and financial exclusion of the poor and 'needy'

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