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Airlines Termed Unethical by Leading Investment Firm

Feb 11th, 2008 • Posted in: News

Their environmental impact gets them blacklisted from Standard Life’s ethical funds

LONDON
One of Britain’s top investment firms has labeled airlines as unethical and plans to blacklist them alongside arms dealers and animal-testing labs.

The Scotsman reports that Standard Life, based in Edinburgh, says concerns over the millions of tons of carbon dioxide produced by commercial aircraft have prompted it to end ethical-fund investment in air carriers.

The London Stock Exchange reports on its website that Standard Life made the move after conducting a poll of its customers.

“The views of investors in our ethical funds are of paramount importance to us,” said Julie McDowell, head of socially responsible investments at Standard Life, according to the London Daily Telegraph. “We seek, wherever possible, to reflect those concerns in the criteria applicable to our funds.”

While several socially responsible investment funds exclude various industry sectors, few explicitly ban aviation, according to the management trade journal Environmental Finance.

Sources: Scotsman, Feb. 8 — London Stock Exchange, Feb. 8 — Telegraph, Feb. 6 — Environmental Finance, Feb. 6.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Dec. 10, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Sep. 24, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Sep. 4, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Aug. 20, 2007.

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