Ethical Investments - Towards a Sound Theory and Screening Methodology

This study aims to test and develop methods for environmental and social screening of companies in order to support informed investment decisions. Among others the report deals with the following questions: * What are the characteristics of current ethical screening methods? * What steps and criteria should be included in an ethical screening? * What are advantages/disadvantages of intuitive methods versus analytic methods? * How should gathered information be evaluated? * Does social screening differ from environmental screening? The available literature on ethical screening and decision making has been evaluated. Also, the current screening practices in Sweden and elsewhere were mapped and analysed. Subsequently a flowchart for ethical screening was developed and the method was tested in three case studies. The overall conclusion of the study is that it is both common and motivated that different objectives are used for ethical screening. These different objectives lead to different preferences regarding methods for screening. But to conduct a more elaborate screening, competence concerning companies' ethical practices and the capital market is essential. We acknowledge that intuitive and informal steps always will be present in a screening process. But, to ensure comparability, we believe it is crucial that the overall approach is analytic, formalised, and transparent