Invest: The Double Bottom Line

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More investors are seeking a different kind of green.

By Mark Barna

Tree huggers and stock investors have different values. Sure, both love green. But huggers want to protect it, while investors want more of it. Greenpeace or a green pocketbook. An insurmountable gulf.

But not so fast. A growing number of investors seek a “double bottom line,” as it is often called. They want moneymaking investments but only in stocks held by companies socially and environmentally responsible. And with more people aware of the inconvenient truth of global warming, investing in alternative energies, many experts say, looks like a real moneymaker.

“This has a huge potential for growth,” says Liz Karan, co-director Earth Tones, a Sacramento co-op offering phone service and internet access that  gives all its profits to environmental groups. “Socially responsible companies used to be seen as a niche. But now they are on the cusp of being mainstream.”

Laurie Landeros, vice president of Shorebank Pacific, a green lender based in Washington state, credits Al Gore for the heavy interest.

“It has exploded over the last couple of years,” says Landeros. “And I think Al Gore’s movie has a lot to do with it.”

Green investing, also known as socially responsible investing (SRI), avoids holdings in industries that do harm to health, humanity and the environment. “It’s about investing with your values,” says Cliff Feigenbaum, publisher of the Green Money Journal. “Making money, but also making a difference.”

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