Big Issue launches fund to invest in ‘green’ companies

The Big Issue Group has helped to launch a new fund offering people the chance to invest in “green” companies.

The organisation has partnered with Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) for the initiative, aimed at companies that get at least half their revenue from tackling climate change and other environmental challenges.

A fifth of the revenue from the fund will be reinvested back into The Big Issue to help support its mission of dismantling poverty for now and future generations.

Climate activist Jouja Maamri, 24, a representative of The Big Issue Group, said: “It is important that the fund takes into account what young people like me have to say. After all, it’s our generation and the ones after us that will bear the costs of climate change.

“This fund allows individuals to take targeted action. By choosing to invest in green companies, you’re saying you’re not OK with the status quo. You don’t have to be a big investor. You are part of a bigger collective – when lots of people mobilise whatever money they have for good, it can bring about change on a corporate level.”

Nigel Kershaw, who chairs The Big Issue Group, said: “Crucially, this fund is about what we can do to address climate change, rather than just what we shouldn’t be doing.

“It’s a chance for anyone to invest not only for the prospect of financial return, but an environmental and social one too.”

Fund manager Craig Mackenzie, of ASI, said: “The fund gives people a way to put their money to work helping to drive the global shift to net zero, while also benefitting from the high growth investment opportunities that go with it.”