The results of the poll showed that 61% of woman and 53% of men said that they would choose products that were ethically-sourced over ones that weren’t, but that 56% of woman and 44% of men would actively seek investments that were billed as ethical. The difference could be attributed to the misconceptions surrounding the performance of ethical funds—something that continues to blight the sector, and in some cases, restrict its progress.

By interviewing ethically-focused independent financial advisers (IFAs) and fund managers, Blue & Green Tomorrow has dispelled the myth. John Mudge, a director of the Quadris Environmental Forestry Fund encouraged potential doubters to “look at our track record”. Indeed, almost all of the ethical or sustainable funds that B&GT has featured have beaten their benchmarks. Given that these vehicles, by definition, set out to encompass the three Ps—planet, people (the two often forgotten by conventional funds) and prosperity—investing in a sustainable or ethical fund adds significant value beyond the financial.

However, the Oikocredit survey shows that the majority of respondents—58% to be exact—cite financial return as the most important consideration when investing. A meagre 9% said they’d consider the ethical implications. In our vital search for a sustainable future, this simply isn’t good enough. The global economy is inadvertently governed by unsustainable industries that often have no positive impact beyond bringing forth profit—but at what real cost?

As Audrey Ryan, manager of the Kames Capital Ethical Equity Fund, said, “There is no long term performance penalty for investing ethically”. This, added to IFA Lee Smythe’s mantra of, “People are good”, leads one to naturally question the reasons why ethical investment isn’t more popular. Perhaps more private investors would seriously consider ethical or sustainable options, if they took into account the extent to which their money is negatively affecting the planet and its people.

Source : Blue and Green Tomorrow

Monday, May 14th, 2012 By Alex Blackburne

With the spot price of gold at year lows even as equity markets grow nervous over the eurozone once again, analysts are divided on the precious metal’s prospects as a safe haven.

Some of the UK’s canniest investors, including Troy’s Sebastian Lyon and Jupiter’s Merlin team, have long used gold exchange-traded funds in their portfolios as a hedge against uncertainty.

But since the start of 2012, the price of the precious metal has been moving in sync with riskier assets, and bullion has now fallen 14% since 28 February, even as equity markets have begun to pull back from post-stimulus highs.

The gold price reached a record high of $1,920 a troy ounce last year, but continued falls in recent weeks have seen the price touch $1,522 this morning, its lowest level of the year.

Analysts at Barclays last week realigned their outlook for gold in light of this pattern, cutting their 2012 forecast for the precious metal by 8% to $1,716.

“While the macro backdrop remains positive, gold has behaved closer to risky assets rather than differentiating itself as a safe haven asset,” the bank said in a note to clients.

John Ventre, manager of the Spectrum and multi-asset funds at Skandia, is also concerned over gold’s ability to act as a hedge, particularly given the level of investment interest in the precious metal.

“This is an example of our old friend “the crowded trade” rearing its head. Very many investors now own the asset, even though the market is in fact incredibly small,” Ventre said.

“As investors – particularly levered ones like hedge funds – take losses in other parts of their portfolio, then selling pressure emerges across the board as investors pull their horns in.”

Nomura, however, believes gold can re-establish its role as a hedge against global tail-risks, and said the impetus for this move will be a reversal in the metal’s correlation with the EUR/USD exchange rate – though the euro’s recent decline has not yet reflected this trend.

“One of the clearest factors driving gold weakness is the continuing high correlation with EUR/USD (or inverse correlation with USD more broadly),” analysts from the bank’s research division said.

“If we look back over the past few years, the correlation has notably flipped when there have been tensions in the euro area [...] because the uncertainty in Europe is again building, following the Greek elections, it seems reasonable to expect this correlation to flip again, and this could see EUR/USD lower and gold prices higher.”

As well as anticipating renewed interest from ETF investors, Nomura also pointed to Asian demand as a driver of prices, and said a reversal in bullion’s fortunes would also be dependent on stronger price action in gold during Asian trading hours.

“So far, the weakness in Asian hours, although notable, has not been as dramatic as it was during September 2011 or December 2011. This suggests we could see a turn in the near future, and we shall be watching this indicator very closely as a result,” the analysts said.

Source : Investment Week

Tasmania could become the latest emerging nation for wine investment, with additional support from the government.

Wine investment activities are dominated in the Old World, namely France, Germany and Italy, but some countries are emerging as new alternative investments as their wine making takes off.

Supporting Tasmania’s claim as a future location for wine investment is the government, which has produced a guide for investors that promotes the state’s winemaking industry.

“Tasmania’s wine industry may be relatively small, but it’s carving out an immense reputation,” claimed David O’Byrne, Tasmania’s minister for economic development.

“Our island offers water availability, soil, land affordability, branding and biosecurity advantages over many popular wine regions.”

His comments come after The Drinks Business named Tasmania as the second-best wine investment location after China.

Mr O’Byrne said that endorsement is “further evidence of its growing status and exciting future”.

Chateau Lafite Rothschild has already taken advantage of China’s growing status as a wine investment location. Earlier this year it began construction of its first winery in Asia, in China’s Shandong province.

The news provider also tipped Greece and Georgia to be future attractive wine investment locations.

French province Languedoc and England, which has just seen planting begin at its biggest vineyard in Sussex, could also one day become locations for fine wine production that attracts the biggest investors in the wine world.

For Tasmania, a lot is resting on its future as a prominent wine country. The government has identified the wine industry as a priority sector in its Economic Development Plan, which aims to identify and play to the state’s natural strengths, Mr O’Byrne said.

Completing The Drinks Business‘ top ten vineyard investments were the Ukraine, Sardinia – which could utilise the knowledge of Italian wine producers – Swartland in South Africa and Finland.

Ditton Wine Traders

Posted by Brian Hughes

The processing plant in Bootle will be dedicated to producing biodiesel from used cooking oil and will complement Agri’s existing national used cooking oil collection business. The plant has been constructed on a brownfield site which has a history of reprocessing oils and fats going back more than 150 years. To this end Agri has been able to regenerate an area of Liverpool and create green employment opportunities.

Transport Minister Norman Baker said: “I am pleased to be able to open Agri’s Biodiesel plant, the largest plant dedicated to the production of biodiesel made from used cooking oil in the UK. The investment made by Agri – and projects like this – can help the UK meet its ambitious carbon reduction targets while creating green jobs to rebuild the economy.

“Sustainable biofuels have an important role to play in our efforts to tackle climate change, particularly where there is no viable alternative fuel identified. Biodiesel produced from used cooking oil can be one of the most sustainable biofuels and I am also pleased to see, through administration of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, the progress that has been made by UK biofuel suppliers in the auditing of the sustainability of the biofuels they supply.”

There has been a growing trend to convert waste oils and fats into transport fuels as these can have a positive effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Agri’s biodiesel plant is the culmination of six years’ work to establish a business capable of providing customers with an efficient service to collect their used cooking oil and turn it into a high-quality green fuel. Its purpose-built biodiesel plant features technology that enables it to produce 16 million litres of EN14214 biodiesel per year – a European specification of biodiesel that isn’t usually achievable with standard technology in biodiesel plants when using used cooking oil as a feedstock.

Furthermore, the plant has been designed to maximise its carbon efficiency savings. Eddie O’Reilly, Agri’s biodiesel plant manager, said: “By using ISO 14064 methods we can measure the carbon footprint of our biodiesel to show at least 90% less greenhouse gas emissions when compared with regular mineral diesel. This makes it the most sustainable type of biodiesel in the world.”

By Lisa Jenkins

The joint study of 18 wind farms across the country by the industry and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) showed communities benefited from onshore wind turbines to the tune of £84 million in 2011, with 1,100 local jobs supported by the sector. One in three local jobs were in operating and maintaining the turbines, providing long term employment.

The report also said wind farms benefited local people through schemes which pay residents for hosting turbines, community ownership and investment in infrastructure. In total, the research by BiGGAR Economics found onshore wind farms supported 8,600 jobs and were worth £548 million to the UK in 2011.

The report, which looked at 18 different-sized wind farms and analysed the contribution of their development, construction and operation to the economy, is the latest salvo in an increasingly bitter battle over onshore wind power.

In recent months countryside campaigners have criticised the encroachment of turbines on the landscape and 100 Tory MPs wrote to David Cameron calling for subsidies for the technology to be cut. But last month the Prime Minister said he believed renewables were “vital” for the future of the UK and were good for business, not just the environment.

The Treasury has been accused of not backing the drive to develop clean energy sources, but Monday’s report highlights that the technology generates £198 million a year in taxes, not including those charged on electricity. This could rise to £373 million for the exchequer by 2020, the research predicts.

Industry body RenewableUK‘s chief executive Maria McCaffery said the study showed that every megawatt of wind power capacity installed generated almost £700,000, with £100,000 staying in the local community. That means each average 2MW onshore turbine could be creating up to just under £1.4 million, including £200,000 for the local area.

The report also looked at future deployment of onshore wind, and found that if it is scaled up under Government plans from current levels of 4.5 gigawatts installed to almost three times as much (13GW) by 2020, it could generate 11,612 direct and supply chain jobs. The figure rises to 15,459 jobs if wider impacts on the economy of the development are taken into account, contributing around £780 million to the UK by the end of the decade.

But the report found that while the majority of the money generated during the development and operating phases of onshore wind farms stays in the UK, more than half of construction spend goes abroad, highlighting the value of developing a home-grown supply chain.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: “Our policies of increasing community involvement will also help ensure the right balance between developers and community interests. With the cost of the technology coming down, there is a real opportunity to reap the economic benefits onshore wind can bring.”

Copyright © 2012 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

The weekend’s elections in France and Greece reflect the fact that the French are unhappy about the bail-outs delivered to Greece and other struggling EU nations. Meanwhile, the Greek election results showed that the Greek are equally unhappy about the austerity measures brought in by the outgoing leaders in exchange for the bailout cash.

AAA, an alternative investment advocacy group, explains that this ongoing uncertainty about what will happen next in the Eurozone, could lead to even greater demand for alternative investments.

AAA’s analysis partner, Anthony Johnson, said, “following a short period of relative calm in the Eurozone, these elections really couldn’t have come at a worse time.

“For those looking to invest, the anti-austerity sentiment will bring with it more concern about the volatility of the stock exchanges. This, in turn, will lead many to look to less traditional asset classes such as real estate, precious metals and timber.”

AAA claims that there is little doubt that the election results will cause increasing concern about the Eurozone debt crisis. This could lead to millions being wiped from equity markets overnight and open-minded investors will be sure to look elsewhere for long-term risk-averse investment strategies.

AAA supports a large range of alternative investments, but is keen to promote ethical options, such as impact investing and investing in sustainable forestry projects. “We believe that investing in forestry can have far-reaching benefits, such as helping to safeguard the future of the industry in developing countries for generations to come,” explained Mr Johnson.

Our industry has had its reputation tarnished by a number of reckless companies who have muddied the process and not provided enough security or transparency to protect investors. According to industry commentator Jim Budd, investors have lost £150-200 million on mis-sales and fraud in wine over the past two decades.

What recent press coverage has failed to do however is concentrate on what must be done to rectify these problems moving forwards and what is being done to tackle the problem right now rather than simply focus on the mistakes that have happened in the past.

We must start with, at the very least, a standard of good practice for those who introduce fine wine as an investment commodity to consumers. At Vin-X we have a number of measures in place that, we believe, if adopted as industry standard could significantly reduce the risk of fraud and mis-selling for investors.

These measures include: the independent auditing of wine to verify the wines bought by clients and held in storage, the recording of all telephone conversations, a seven day cooling off period after sale, a guarantee that wine sold is owned by the organisation, i.e. there is a right of ownership title to be transferred to the investor, the provision of reference details and certificates of ownership of wine, the ability for clients to see and move their wine and the guarantee that wine secured en primeur (i.e. before bottling) is sourced from approved suppliers only who are fully insured. We are also launching road shows this year to help educate IFAs about wine investment to ensure they too give the best possible advice to their clients.

You might ask why I am so keen to lead the charge on some type of regulation after the demise of a former subsidiary company of mine. The answer is simple, whilst I have first-hand knowledge of FSA regulation and its many pitfalls, it is not applicable to wine investment. Yet having no regulation in the wine industry is a clear negative as I have highlighted throughout this piece. With this in mind, self-regulation is the clear option moving forwards to satisfy all the investor needs for protection.

Moving forwards there are steps being taken by Vin-X and other wine investment companies to form an association or system of self-regulation for the industry to improve standards and we hope to announce more detail on this over the coming months.

The key thing to get across in this blog is that consumers should not be fearful of investing wine. The recent publicity has shone a spotlight on instances of poor practice in the industry. These practices are not common, are unforgivable and should rightly be condemned.

However this should not besmirch the industry as a whole. The majority of the companies offering advice on investment in fine wine have proper measures in place to make the entire experience as safe as possible for investors and there is now a movement to make these even more so. The market is very much a buyers one at the moment, and there are some interesting opportunities post the 2011 price correction.

Peter Shakeshaft / Huffington Post

Follow Peter Shakeshaft on Twitter: www.twitter.com/vinxfinewine

GOLD? SERIOUSLY? Are things that bad?

Yes and no, but mostly no.

At the height of the economic uncertainty last year, when there were persistent murmurs about the collapse of the euro – and in some quarters – the collapse of capitalism, Pricewatch heard a story of a couple in their 30s who withdrew all their money from a UK bank and bought a large bar of gold which they stored in their house in a London council estate. Whatever about buying the glittery stuff, storing it under your bed is never a good idea. If, however, you are smart about how you buy it and where you put it and when you sell it, gold can make sense, particularly if you like rollercoasters.

Rollercoaster? Really?

Really. The oil crisis of the 1970s and the shambolic end to the Carter presidency in the US led to a goldrush the like of which had not been seen since the Klondike – when economic times are tough money always rushes to gold. After many months of frenzied speculation throughout 1980, prices hit a peak of $850 per ounce – around $2,200 today when adjusted for inflation.

Then Ronald Regan entered the White House and the price of gold went into freefall. By June 1982 it cost just $296. The crash was followed by a two-decade long bear market which kept prices depressed. Gold was written off as a “barbaric relic”, but almost as soon as the death notice appeared, it started to climb in price. In the autumn of last year, at the height of the Greek financial crisis, it went over $1,900 an ounce.

How much does it cost now?

In the middle of last week, an ounce of gold on the New York Stock Exchange cost $1,662 which is undoubtedly high. However some commentators say it could reach $2,000.

Seems expensive; is it value for money?

According to some (admittedly fairly unreliable) information often used by pop economists, at the time of Julius Caesar, a good quality toga cost an ounce of gold. By that reckoning, an ounce of gold should probably cost the same as a good quality man’s suit today – or anywhere between €800 and €1,200.

Another suggestion – that is perhaps equally apocryphal – is that in Biblical times an ounce of gold could buy you 300 loaves of bread. A large Brennan’s bread sliced pan costs €1.58 in Tesco right now suggesting that by that measure, the correct price should be around $600 an ounce.

The reality, however, is that gold has no actual value and is only worth what people are willing to pay for it, or to quote Willem Buiter, a former professor at the London School of Economics, its positive value is based on “nothing more than a set of self-confirming beliefs”.

How could I tell if it was a bubble?

In 2007, more than 80 per cent of the demand for gold was for jewellery and industrial use, while less than 20 per cent of demand was from investors. By 2009, this had changed dramatically. Investment demand had risen to 43 per cent of the total. The rise in demand from investors raises the question as to whether speculation is a key driver of the gold rally.

How would I even go about buying gold?

Gold certificates are popular. You may not get your hands on the gold, but you do have a cert asserting that you own gold, the most commonly traded certs come from the Perth Mint which are guaranteed by the Australian government and are triple-A rated.

Allocated and unallocated accounts are also a way to buy gold. The former sees actual gold with your name on it stored in a vault owned and managed by a recognised bullion dealer. Storage and insurance fees are charged which do eat into reserves. With unallocated account, you don’t get a specific hunk of gold bullion so there is no storage or insurance charges, but then again, you don’t have the gold either – just the promise of it.

Gold stocks are not gold either but shares in companies looking for the stuff can be a very shrewd investment if things go well. Or a very stupid one if things go badly. When gold price rises, profits of mining company do too, as does their share price. Be warned, however, that gold shares are volatile and high risk. If you don’t want to select individual shares, you can spread the risk by investing in collective investment funds which specialise in gold mining companies. You can chose from mutual funds, open-ended investment companies, closed-end funds, unit trusts There are also gold futures which trade on international exchanges. And exchange traded funds (ETFs) which are a popular way of incorporating gold into a personal investment portfolio.

Alternatively, you can go for the real deal. There are several dealers selling gold bullion to Irish buyers, both in the form of coins and bars. Buying investment-grade gold bullion for investment is stamp-duty free and tax free under the EU Gold Directive of 2000. Older and rare coins can also be bought but not just for their precious metal content but their rarity and their historical or aesthetic appeal. They sell for more than regular coins because of the added rarity factor. The most widely traded older coin is the British Gold Sovereign

One of the new kids on the block is bulliondirect.ie. Set up just over a year ago, the company sells one-ounce coins from South Africa, the US and Canada, as well as gold bars. The company is based in Galway and is owned by Niall Marren. He says customers tend to have done their research in advance and know what they want.

They are using the gold investment to hedge against weakening currencies and protect their savings. “As with any investment there is a risk of market deflation,” he concedes. “But the buying power of gold has remained consistent throughout history. An ounce of gold may have cost $150 dollars in the 1970s but $150 then would have had the same buying power as $1,500 now. An ounce of gold will always be an ounce of gold.” Another company which is now selling gold bullion into Ireland is yourgoldfund.com.

So will I buy?

Callum MacPherson works with Investec in London, and while he reluctant to crystal-ball gaze, he is not against the idea of investing in gold – particularly if gold only forms part of an investment portfolio. “It is worth what people will pay for it and it does have scope to go higher. There is a lot of risk still in the global economy and any problems are very likely to push gold higher,” he says.

What would Warren do?

Some gold dealers are incredibly precious and aggressive in talking up their products. And good luck to them. Warren Buffett is one of the world’s wealthiest men and knows a thing or two about making money. He doesn’t like gold. He has famously said it “gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.”

But the novelty of the asset class – and the relatively limited allocations to alternative assets in general – means take-up of forestry remains slow, say investment managers. “We have lived through extraordinary times for investors,” Hugh Humfrey, managing partner, Timberland Investment Resources (TIR) Europe, told the Forestry, Sustainability and Biomass 2012 conference in London today. “And the fact is, forestry did what it said it would do on the tin.”

“The performance of our timberland assets has been a very stable part of our portfolio overall,” agreed Sandy LaBaugh, a senior director and portfolio manager at TIAA-CREF. The US pensions giant, which has $515 billion under management, has built up a $1.6 billion forestry portfolio since it began investing in the asset class in 1998. According to figures from David Brand, managing director of New Forests Asset Management, which runs $1.5 billion in forestry assets, US timberland assets were only around 22% correlated with the S&P500 between 1987 and 2010, and negatively correlated with gold and oil.

However, forestry investments are correlated with inflation, providing a hedge for inflation-averse long-term investors such as pension funds. “Forestry does tick a number of big boxes for us,” said Owen Thorne, investment officer at the Merseyside Pension Fund, a £5 billion ($8 billion) UK local authority pension fund. “Pension funds love anything that’s got a built-in inflation hedge.” He also said that forestry investments appealed to the fund’s trustees. “As a pension fund, we serve a social purpose, and investing in trees – it made the trustees very happy.”

However, pension funds remain cautious on the sector. Humfrey at TIR gave a number of reasons, including the relatively small allocations pension funds are making to alternative assets, and therefore the limited resources they can expend exploring new investment opportunities. He also said that many are concerned about the lack of liquidity in the forestry assets, although he downplayed these concerns. “It’s not an asset you can buy and sell at the touch of a computer button … but you can sell forestry, if it’s in developed markets, relatively easily.”

He added that investors are also concerned about the valuation of forestry assets, and he conceded that there can be some subjectivity in valuing, for example, a Brazilian eucalyptus plantation. But investment managers added that it is simply a question of investor education: “There is increasing knowledge, but it’s taking a long time [for funds] to jump in,” said Chris Armitage, head of UK, at FourWinds Capital Management, manager of the Phaunos Timber Fund.

“I’ll spend 18 months to two years teaching a pension fund about the asset in the first place, and then I’ll see if they want to buy it.

“It’s slow building, but it is building.”

FRA, along with a host of other experts, are claiming that the increased interest in alternative investments, and particularly ethical investments, is helping to boost the importance of sustainability around the globe.

A recent article in the Financial Times also highlighted how investment in sustainable real estate is also helping to boost the demand for green buildings, with more and more investors realising the benefit of putting their cash towards an ethical project.

“There’s no doubt that green investments are proving more popular these days, explained FRA’s analysis partner, Peter Collins. He added, “Investors are largely disillusioned with the state of economy and the fact that the banks held all the power for so long.”

FRA claims that the tide is changing and that investors are increasingly looking at ways to contribute to a more sustainable way of living and investing.

Forestry investment is one of the areas that has attracted a huge amount of attention in recent years. Investing in sustainable timber plantations offers a lower-risk option for investors who are keen to make an impact with their cash. “Investing in timber is less risky as you don’t have to harvest and sell your timber when your trees reach maturity – you can always hang onto them and watch them continue to grow until the price is right,” explained Collins.

This, teamed with the fact that timber demand is soaring in emerging markets such as India, China and Brazil, means that prices are set to rise in the coming years. “Investing in timber grown in Canada or Brazil through firms like Greenwood Management offers a uniquely profitable and ethical choice that will help investors get a taste of green investments for as little as around $15,000,” concluded Mr Collins.