How to spot greenwashing in your investments

Each week BusinessDesk and the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's how to avoid getting tricked by dodgy "ethical investing" claims. Hosted by Frances Cook.

Kermit the frog taught us that it's not easy being green, and boy was he right. 

The ethical investing sector is booming, and many investors say it's important to them that their money is going into companies doing the right thing. 

A recent survey by Mindful Money found 73% of New Zealanders want their funds to be invested responsibly, and 56% say they would consider switching KiwiSaver funds to avoid irresponsible companies. 

Unfortunately greenwashing is rife, with many companies and even investment funds trying to claim socially responsible credentials, without having put in the work. 

It is an area that the money police are keeping an eye on, with the Financial Markets Authority and New Zealand Stock Exchange saying it's a key focus, while Australian watchdogs including the Securities and Investments Commission are also zeroing in on it. 

But that relies on companies getting caught, and besides, there are plenty of ways to bend the rules without breaking them. 

Frankly, we're all pretty busy, so we want to get through this issue without having to spend ages on it. 

For the latest podcast, I talked to Eliot Hastie from Stake, and Barry Coates, founder and CEO of Mindful Money.

If you have a question about this podcast, or a question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here, Instagram here, and Twitter here.

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