Green ISAs – More Than an Interest Rate

It’s coming up to 5 April and the time of year when the finance industry is urging you to use your ISA allowance (£20,000 for the 2024/2025 tax year).

We, at Ecology, are no different in that we also want you to make the most of your tax-free savings. However, as an ethically led, sustainable building society, Ecology is different to other financial companies when it comes to what we do with your money.

How Green is a ‘Green ISA’?

We have written in previous blog articles about sustainable savings and helped you to understand where your hard-earned money really goes. Some will offer ‘green’ or ‘ethical’ ISA products. But in many cases, this ‘ethical’ product is merely one option of many you can choose. The same company may also offer savings or investments that are not regarded as ethical, supporting fossil fuels, deforestation, gambling, arms and other non-sustainable industries.

So how do you know if your financial provider, or even your money, isn’t being used to fund these developments?

If a firm offers a ‘green’ or ‘ethical’ ISA, it’s worth checking out whether it’s just a token product from their overall offering or whether the company as a whole is ethically led. It’s not always that easy to know. Many companies do not disclose the environmental or social impact of their business model; and then there’s the issue of greenwashing. Lack of disclosure or transparency could be a warning sign to steer well clear of such institutions!

If you’re not sure how to find out how ethical or green your financial provider is, download our free Guide to Sustainable Savings.

The Ecology ISA Difference

We all want our hard-earned cash to continue working hard for us when it’s put into a savings account. Often, this is focussed solely on the interest rate. A good return on your investment is important. But at what cost if your money is being used to fund industries contributing to climate change, destroying the natural environment or having a negative impact on local communities?

Ethically led ISA providers can offer competitive interest rates. But they also offer something more: the opportunity for individual savers to make a significant and genuine contribution to fight climate change and fund businesses and projects that have a positive impact on people and nature. In an increasingly faceless, global corporate culture, investing your money wisely and ethically can be a wonderfully empowering tool. And if enough people do it, it can be game-changing.

That’s what drives organisations like Ecology. We only invest in projects that are ethical, sustainable and good for the environment and communities. And our savings Members can see exactly where their money goes (check out our customer projects). In financial jargon ISA may well stand for Individual Savings Account, but for us it stands for something more:

I

Inspiring eco-friendly homes, affordable housing & community projects across the UK.

S

Sustainable funding for properties that have a positive social & environmental impact.

A

Accountability. Ethical & transparent. We don’t invest in fossil fuels, deforestation, gambling, armaments or unsustainable industries.

That’s the Ecology difference!

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