Let’s talk about money. Part 2: Green investments.

Hanna Hornberg is Director of Sustainable Investments, Impact Investing, and Alternative Investments at one of the leading investment houses in the German-speaking region. She also works as a lecturer at the European Business School. We asked her how she would deal with the topic of “green investments”.

“In business and on the stock market, there is no black and white, but – as in real life – all shades of gray. This also (and especially) applies to sustainable investments. Of course, you don’t want to have anything to do with weapons, environmentally harmful chemicals, non-transparent supply chains, dubious financial transactions, and the like. So: Either you have a trusted banker to advise you. Or you fight your way through imaginative, trustworthy appearing advertising brochures, web pages, and sometimes dust-dry legal texts.

Regardless of which path is chosen, you should determine the following points for yourself: How much money do you want to invest? Once or regularly? And what do you want to achieve or – almost more important – what do you not want? It is very helpful to establish focal points: Is it environmental protection? Is it social/societal aspects? Or do you primarily want good and transparent corporate governance?

All aspects are justifiable, it should just not be too many at once, because then it will be increasingly difficult to find an appropriate target investment. Choose the topic that is closest to your heart! And then – inevitably – the search begins. In the end, however, don’t forget to pay attention to fees and compare all terms!” (Hanna Hornberg, Feri AG)

Which brings us to the topic of “What can you do as a small(er) investor?”