U.S. denim company Levi’s announced last week the release of two million pairs of sustainable fiber jeans as part of the company’s Better Cotton campaign. In response to the announcement, http://ethical-investments.org published an article educating investors on how they can verify the effectiveness of both large corporate initiatives and small-scale projects before funding them.
London, UK (PRWEB) November 15, 2011
“As part of our partnership in the Better Cotton Initiative, we’re working to change how one of the most important commodities in fashion is grown… Better Cotton is better for the environment and for farmers,” claims the Levi’s.
The initiative provides training for farmers in some of the world’ largest cotton-producing regions and works with them to employ sustainable and eco-friendly farming techniques that benefit both the environment and the end product.
In the article, ethical-investments.org stresses the importance of holding corporations, ethical investment funds and individual projects accountable for how effectively they perform and how investor funds are used to deliver tangible and non-tangible social and environmental benefits.
The website, which is an online information destination for investors looking to create a positive social and environmental impact without compromising financial gains, further notes that some companies face challenges with clear and transparent reporting for their ethical projects.
“Not all ethical investments are as straightforward and clear-cut as the Levi’s initiative. A real obstacle for enterprises trying to lure in new investments has been their ability to demonstrate their impact in a way that it invokes investor confidence,” says Tonka Dobreva of Dezz, the media company operating ethical-investments.org. “Smaller social entrepreneurships don’t have the time or resources to produce adequate feedback,” she adds.
The article also acknowledges the challenges prospective investors face when they have to decide which ethical investments best match their vision and business goals. Therefore, the article aims to help investors navigate through the sometimes-ambiguous world of impact investments.
Ethical-investments.org suggests investors research projects and companies within two recently created evaluation frameworks, which measure businesses on the basis of their social and environmental benefits – the Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS, pronounced "gears") and the UK Carbon Reporting Framework (CRF).
GIIRS, the article explains, was launched by U.S. non-profit B Lab in partnership with Prudential, J.P. Morgan and The Rockefeller Foundation, among others. GIIRS includes 40 investment funds and 200 companies, who have agreed to be rated by the system. Nine funds and 50 companies have already successfully completed the comprehensive evaluation process. The five-year plan of the system is to measure the social and environmental impact of over 2,500 companies and 350 investments funds.
The CRF investment standard, the article says, is a UK-specific rating scheme designed for environmental carbon-reducing initiatives, primarily in the areas of forestry and renewable energy. Ethical-investments.org explains that the framework was created by the British Research Establishment, British Airways, Deloitte and Forum for the Future and consists of a series of methodologies aimed at pairing local projects with potential investors. The framework provides small-scale projects with the sophisticated accounting system they need to measure their carbon reducing capacity and to guarantee that pitfalls, such as double-counting, are avoided.
According to ethical-investments.org, both GIIRS and CRF are good starting points for investors, who want to find verified opportunities to engage their capital in profitable, yet responsible initiatives.
To read the full article and to get more information about ethical investments, visit ethical-investments.org.
About Dezz
Dezz is a UK-based boutique digital media company providing original and reliable up-to-date information in the area of carbon credit trading and sustainable investments to large investment company decision makers, NGOs and to eco-minded individuals. Dezz Limited, 843 Finchley Road, London, NW11 8NA. Registered in England and Wales as a Limited Company. Company Number: 07376661
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