Ethical investment's tarnished reputation isn't, of course, entirely deserved - there are good ethical products that match up to the performance of their more mainstream peers, and invest in a way that offers genuine social benefit. And as the chief executive of environmental fund management group Impax told me last year, such funds address issues that investors ignore at their peril. Take energy usage, as an example - ever-improving fuel economy in new cars suggests we should worry more about peak usage rather than peak production, the age-old fear that we would literally run out of gas. Given the concern caused by the recent oil price fall, resource investors may face a long, bumpy ride.
There are also plenty of good-performing shares in companies that have grown very nicely by adopting more ethical business models in areas where you'd least expect it. Many of these are in the technology industry, providing tools that genuinely help to improve people's lives around the world. We've listed many examples in this week's cover feature, but there are likely to be many more, especially at the smaller end of the market. Some larger companies still have some cleaning up to do, though, especially in matters of tax planning - although tax avoidance does not, it seems, keep many of them off ethical investment registers. And despite the work of Jean Tirole, winner of this week's Nobel economics prize for his work into competition, many corporations continue to find ways to bamboozle their regulators to the detriment of consumers - as the UK power industry is often accused.
Meanwhile, I am feeling very pleased with myself for reaching my third week as a non-smoker. I am only sorry that I didn't quit sooner - it is a filthy, expensive and harmful habit with no benefits whatsoever. I am also now of the mind that it may soon be time to quit tobacco shares, too. As Harriet Russell explains in this week's sector focus, the sector continues to hold income attractions. But the industry is, rightly, facing an ever-increasing burden of regulation, to the extent that it is possible to imagine a smoke-free future - and loss of dividends surely beats loss of life hands down.
