Agro-Ecological sustainable farmland investment company offers a secure, ethical alternative to commodity markets

Despite the current economic climate, one company focusing on the future not only of their investors but that of the planet as a whole, is new ecological investment management company Agro-Ecological.  It is the only organisation currently wholly committed to providing ecological asset management and investment solutions in the farmland sector.  This previously inaccessible asset class is now available thanks to the vision and insight of this team of highly experienced organic farmland asset management professionals.

Agro-Ecological offers a professional investment capability in the
sustainable, responsible and ecological management of farmland, for
institutions, investment/wealth managers and HNWI’s in particular for
those with an SRI (sustainable and responsible investment) focus.

The company exclusively acquires and manages farming properties in an
ecological and organic way. This is a timely and cogent investment
opportunity designed to generate a sustainable and profitable future
for both investor and the global environment as a whole.  Says Geoff
Burke, Managing Director, “Investment in farmland and its
organic/ecological management provides an incredibly powerful and
synergistic combination of both positive investment factors, such as
security, stability and performance, with essential sustainability
factors, such as food and health, ecology and climate change.”

The global food supply chain is currently in a state of flux due to
increased demand, climate change and resource constraints; causing
droughts, supply disruptions and increased conventional farming input
costs.  The agriculture sector will inevitably need to adapt to these
changes by redirecting its approach towards a more ecological and
environmentally sound way of farming. In this adaptation lie
significant investment opportunities.

Geoff Burke continues, “Agro-Ecological recognises the investment
opportunities in farmland, understands its increasing and long term
attractions such as stability, inflation hedging and uncorrelated
investment performance and is able to open up this entire outperforming
and secure asset class, hitherto unavailable to the rapidly expanding
demand for genuinely sustainable and responsible investment.”

Agro-Ecological is a member of The Ethical Junction and newly
relaunched UKSIF (Sustainable Investment and Finance). The company has
been in business since September 2008 and between them the team members
have over 50 years’ experience in the organic farmland sector.

www.agro-ecological.com

“Your Calendar of Climate Change is unbelievably striking and poignant and His Royal Highness admires you more than he can possibly say for using your skills to communicate the message so brilliantly. Your support for the Prince’s Rainforests Project is utterly invaluable.”

Click here to get your friends, your family, your school or even yourself a copy of the 2009 Calendar of Climate Change with £2 off the RRP of £10.99. Truly a right royal bargain!

Set up in October 2007 by HRH The Prince of Wales, The Prince’s Rainforests Project recognises the global role played by the forests in both promoting and mitigating climate change, and the acute pressure put on the rainforests by the worldwide rises in commodity prices and soaring global demand for beef, soya and palm oil.

The Prince’s Rainforests Project works with governments, business, NGOs and individuals to increase global recognition of the contribution of tropical deforestation to climate change and to find ways to make the rainforests worth more alive than dead.

Currently The Prince’s Rainforests Project is developing educational resources so that teachers may engage and inspire the children in their care to consider the vital role played by the remaining rainforests on the planet, and to involve them as active stakeholders in a sustainable future. The 2009 Calendar of Climate Change was selected by the Project team as one of these resources.

Barchester Green Investment has published a 3 page article, Sustainable investment Fund Performance 2008, which is downloadable as a PDF.  

Extract: There was great excitement this time last year within the sustainable investment industry as the Investment Management Association (IMA) figures for 2008 announced record levels of new investment into socially responsible investment funds with the total in assets under management increasing to £8.9 billion. We also saw a number of new funds entering the market place and increased media interest in ethical and socially responsible investment.

Download the whole the article.

years ago on the 9/9/1999 Ethical Junction (EJ) was born.

Here’s a photo of the newborn babe

Ahh, Sweet!

So to celebrate, a little belatedly, and in the spirit of the magic number 9, here’s 9 things you always wanted to know about EJ but were too shy to ask.

1. EJ was founded in 1999 by visionary Steven Knight.

2. EJ has been built by the membership for the membership – it is owned by the people that use it. There are no shares in EJ and it is incorporated as a Community Interest Company limited by guarantee.

3. The EJ ‘hub’ comprises 9 members of staff (just a coincidence – we’re not that obsessed with 9s)

The Directors

The rest of us 

Oh! and Santa’s Little Helper of course!

 4. EJ is a network that offers a range of services and benefits (there’s 9 listed here):

• An online shop

• An affordable Press Release Service

• A Directory of thousands of ethical organisations

• Affordable Advertising Opportunities

• Live Networking

• An online news and publicity service

• A forum for discussing all things green, ethical, CSR and sustainable

• Regular bulletins 

• Each other

5. EJ has a fascinating history written by Tom Barnett that’s well worth a read sometime.

6. EJ’s official partner is the Co-operative Bank.

7. EJ membership is not a certification, rather it is a declaration by our members that they are striving to be leading ‘practitioners’ of ethical principles through either trade, education or commitment to the community around them. EJ looks to the community itself to hold itself true to its ethics and foundations.

8. EJ is a force for positive change.

9. EJ knows that words to change the world come on the feet of doves.

Nanotechnology: Opportunities & Threats

Nanotechnology has the capacity to change many aspects of our lives and like any new technology offers both tremendous opportunities for social and environmental advancement, but also carries many dangers.

Given the potential impact that nanotechnology could make, it is surprising that the public have seemed relatively disinterested, and as a result, companies have not felt compelled to be as transparent as they might otherwise be in communicating their policy with regard to nanotechnology. So what are the challenges posed by nanotechnology for investors, and what are the opportunities? We consider the issues in a new paper. You can read the full paper here.

Ethical Money’s research papers are occasional discussion papers for ethical investors and their advisors. Past papers are available for downloadhere. Ethical Money provides information and research on companies and funds offering solutions to social and environmental challenges. We work with investment managers and private clients to provide distinctive fund management services with a focus on such solutions. Further information is available at www.3dinvesting.com or by emailing John.

We are thrilled to announce a fair trade partnership with a very inspiring social enterprise in South Africa called Township Trades. All of the participant trainees in this enterprise have had their lives impacted in some way by HIV/AIDS and with unemployment levels at a staggering 70% in Khayelitsha township, this organisation has thrown them a life line.

We have been looking for a partnership of this sort for some time now and then suddenly it appeared before us, as if by fate!  The timing could not have been more perfect or fit in better with our ‘vision’ and we sincerely ask for your robust support, as we are not shy to say that we certainly need it!  

Visionary Soap Company is at that point where we could either invest thousands of £s in equipment and factory space to increase our production. To be perfectly honest, we would rather take that money and invest it in people!  

By sending soap orders to Township Trades, we hope to make an immediate positive impact for this group, while at the same time, have them help us with our soap making!  We are reaching capacity with our current equipment and this is limiting our ability to get out there and market our rapidly growing company (not to mention the exhaustion factor from trying to produce enough soap with our small moulds and barely staying ahead of
demand!)  

An additional element of this partnership is that we will be able to source the vast majority of our ingredients from local farmers and women’s cooperatives in the area, thus furthering the economic impact we hope to make. We also plan on dedicating a portion of the purchase price of each bar of soap towards an entrepreneurial scholarship fund for when trainees leave the programme and want to embark on a business venture of
their own.

This briefing paper provides general information only and should not be used as the sole basis for investment decisions. Unless you are an experienced investor it is important to take advice from a suitably qualified professional.

The price of cleaning up
It seems that environmental issues are everywhere today. Whereas a short time ago subjects such as carbon emissions, clean energy, recycling and access to water were peripheral to the business and Government policy agendas; they have in recent years risen significantly in importance.

According to research from Ernst and Young $100 billion of investors capital flowed into the environmental technology sector as a whole during 2006, they expect this to increase to $750 billion by 2016, an increase of 650%

So what are the main economic drivers for this surge in investment?
The EU has set the goal of cutting emissions by 20% before 2020. In Britain the UK climate bill announced a target 60% emission reduction by the year 2050. These regulatory steps build on the 19997 Kyoto protocols which have been signed by 169 companies.

The bulk of investment is likely to go into clean or low carbon energy.
The Chinese Government is likely to invest $200 billion in water infrastructure by 2028, and has committed $180 billion to its clean energy targets. China 2007 climate change action plan includes a plan to double to use of renewable energy by 2020.

A case study- Wind Power
In November 2005 in the State of Colorado (US) a remarkable thing happened to the price of energy. For the first time in the US 33,000 retail energy customers, homeowners and businesses began paying less for electricity generated by wind turbines than other customers buying conventional power from the burning of coal and gas.

This was the result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita roaring through the Gulf of Mexico, causing Xcel Energy to raise the surcharge for conventional energy customers. The marketplace response was swift with Windsource energy quickly sold out and with the generation sites unable to meet demand.  

In that instance the tipping point had been reached due to extraordinary weather events but energy security is also a problem here in Europe with UK increasingly dependent upon the Global markets for gas.

Big players, big growth
By almost any measure, wind energy is booming. If we look at the overall market size the global wind industry has gone from $11.8 billion in 2005 to $17.9 billion in 2006. In the US in 2006 wind was the second largest source of new energy generating capacity, trailing only natural gas.

The European experience
Europe accounts for about 75% of the world’s installed wind-energy capacity, with more than 40 GW. As it does in solar power, Germany leads the world in wind production with more than 18 GW- 33% more than the US.

But the hottest current growth market in the European Union is Spain, which has vaulted past Denmark and the US to become the world’s second largest wind energy user.

Although the Danes still lead the world in the percentage of domestic power generated by wind at 20%. Other European growth markets for wind include the Netherlands, Portugal and the UK; although Shell has recently withdrawn from Europe’s largest wind energy project the London array.

What are the opportunities for private investors?
There are a range of ways in which small private investors can access these growth markets; through relatively mainstream collective investment funds run by fund management organisations, such as Jupiter asset management or Henderson Global

Investors
There are also opportunities to achieve more direct exposure to environmental technologies via venture capital firms such as Foresight. The major ethical bank Triodos has also recently launched a “fund” which invests in wind and wave power energy generation in the UK.

Sources
“The Clean Tech Revolution”  Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder
Global Eco-trends Investment brochure Allianz Global Investors
John Ditchfield
Barchester Green Investment

Nigel’s Eco Store is proud to today announce the winners of the Nigel’s Green Web Awards 2008.  Given the rapid rise in the number of green websites and the amount of coverage of green issues and climate change this year, we felt it was time to draw attention to the best websites involved in the effort to create a greener future.

The Judges

Over the past few weeks we have collected the opinions from leading Green bloggers and experts – people like Bonnie Alter from treehugger.com, Adam Vaughan from Smart Planet, Ed Gillespie from Futerra and Tracy Stokes of EcoStreet – all people with great green credentials who also know what makes the web tick.

A full list of judges on the awards page can be found at: http://www.nigelsecostore.com/green-web-awards/#judges

The judges voted on their favourite Green and Eco sites, in a number of different categories. Our mission in creating the  Green Web Awards was to find the people and organisations who are in the vanguard of creating a greener future online and not just to reward the sites with the biggest budgets, but to find websites that are hidden gems, community-based sites and ones that make use of the power of the internet.

"The web is now a central part of our lives. We expect the sites we visit to be authoritative, dynamic and talking to us in ways that we understand. I hope we’ve been able to shine a light on some of the very best green web sites there are. I was pleased to see some of my favourites come up," said Nigel Berman, MD of Nigel’s Eco Store.

More than any medium today, the web has the power to create communities that can change the world, to inform, and to shape opinion. We believe that what we can achieve online today will have a massive influence on what the world becomes tomorrow.

And the Winners are…

The judges voted for sites in 12 categories, with winners and runners up in each. The  winners in each include:

Green Travel                          Responsible Travel

Green Site for Kids                  Recycle Zone

Ethical Health and Beauty         Green People

Eco Blogs and News                  Tree Hugger

Online Campaigns                   Green Thing

Online Communities                Freecycle

Green Energy                          Good Energy

Ethical Clothing                       People Tree

Greenest companies                Method

and

Worst Greenwash                     Barbie B-Cause

For a full list of winners, see http://www.nigelsecostore.com/green-web-awards/

The majority (83%) of the general public would be less likely or unwilling to give to a charity if they found out it was not investing ethically, according to new research released today by the EIRIS Foundation.

The GFK NOP poll of 2,000 UK adults found that 52% of the general public would be unwilling to give to charities that are investing in a way that is against their objectives, and a further 31% would be less likely to give.  

Almost all (91%) of those surveyed agreed that charities should be investing their money in an ethically or socially responsible way. This highlights a mis-match between public expectations and the number of charities actually investing ethically – a 2006 study by ACCA found that just 55% of large UK charities had an ethical investment policy.

The survey illustrates the growing public interest in the finances of charities, and the risks to both reputation and income that charities face by not investing in line with their mission. As the credit crunch bites, many charities are worried about the potential drop in their income from donations. It is therefore crucial that charities maintain the trust of the public and don’t alienate donors through their investment policies.

Of those surveyed, 81% said that if they discovered a charity was not investing in this way it would negatively affect their view of the charity and 83% indicated that it would make them less likely or unwilling to give to the charity.

The survey also reveals that the public wish to know what charities do with their money. When asked how important it is to know where and how a charity invests its money, 41% of adults rated this as very important on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 10 equals very important). Just 11% rated this as 4 or below.

Public support for ethical investment has increased significantly since a NOP survey for the Charities Aid Foundation. In 2001 over 40% of the public said that they would prefer to support charities which invest ethically and a further 14% said that they were only prepared to support charities investing in this way.

Peter Webster, Executive Director of EIRIS, said “Ethical investment is something which each of the UK’s 25,000 charities that have investments should be taking very seriously. It provides charities with real opportunities to further rather than counter their aims.  If all the £56 billion of UK charity investments was invested ethically this would send a powerful message to companies in terms of social, environmental and ethical corporate behaviour.”

Sam Collin, EIRIS Charity Project Co-ordinator said “These findings come at a time when charities are coming under additional scrutiny from their supporters and face increased pressure from the Charity Commission to be more accountable and transparent. Charities should be responding to the concerns of supporters by demonstrating that they are using their finances in an ethical way.”

A full copy of the survey is available on request.

The new, full colour issue of Sustained magazine is soon to go to print, and there are a few advertising spaces left, so we are offering them to you with an amazing last minute discount of 50%!

Sustained magazine, dear to its national readership of 60,000 and to its network of contributors passionate about sustainable living, is being launched in a new, larger, full colour format – offering the much loved sustainable lifestyle content with an even broader appeal.

Our readers are committed to sustainable living and all related products and services, so advertising in Sustained reaches one of the most targeted and responsive audiences in the light to mid green market.

If you haven’t tried advertising in Sustained, this is the perfect opportunity to find out how good our reader response is – and the offer includes our standard "book three, get the fourth one free"

offer! (Offer subject to availability on a first come, first served basis.)

Sustained is also launching a new business development plan, becoming a not-for-profit organisation and adopting a three-pillar financial foundation in which one third of revenue comes from advertising, one third from subscriptions and one third from sponsorship.

This means that everybody gets the very best value for money, and for advertisers, this means reaching our growing, optimally targeted readership of 60,000, for even better standard rates.

Advert Type         Normal Rate         EJ Rate

Full Page              £1200                  £600

Classified              £150                    £75

Such an offer doesn’t come every day so contact us before 5th August to book your space.

Call our team today, Marc: 07973 435483

Sustained. Small change, big difference