Fund EcoMarket – supporting growth in sustainable, responsible and ethical investment
SRI Services was set up by Julia Dreblow in 2010 to help change how people invest.
Our main service – the Fund EcoMarket database tool – was launched in 2011. Its purpose is to help financial advisers and wealth managers understand and compare sustainable, responsible and ethical investment funds, so that they can match client aims to fund options.
Fund EcoMarket brings together the many different, but often complimentary, ‘sustainable, responsible and ethical investment’ (SRI) strategies and approaches we aim to make these funds easier to research, understand, compare – and recommend to clients.
This service is free to use because we believe it is important that there are no barriers to finding out about sustainable investment fund strategies – it is kindly paid for by our fund partners whose
funds are listed first. The site is designed for UK based financial advisers but open to all.
Fund EcoMarket key facts:
- Designed for UK financial services intermediaries, open to all
- Free to use thanks to our partners (funds with logos)
- Lists approximately 1000 sustainable, responsible, ESG and ethical funds
- Funds can be interrogated via over 250 fund fund management company filter options
- SRI Styles help users identify key fund characteristics –
- clients preferred SRI Styles can be identified with the help of our SRI Stylefinder tool;
- Funds are researched directly. We survey all relevant funds in Q1 each year.
- Available as data feed by arrangement
See here for further information about the Fund EcoMarket database.
Our additional areas of work
In addition to Fund EcoMarket we work across the industry with those we believe can help increase or shape growth in this area.
Julia has specialised in sustainable investment for over 25 years and is well known for her passion for the area – other areas of work include policy, consultancy, media, training and speaking at events.
- Appointment to vice chair the ‘Advisers Sustainability Group’ – an industry led working group set up by the FCA in January 2024 See PIMFA website updates https://advisersustainability.sites.pimfa.uk/
- PFS Sustainable Financial Advice panel member – launched September 2023
- Technical author of the new BSI (British Standards Institute) sustainable fund standard PAS 7342 – appointed Dec 2022 – having previously been on their steering group (2021).
- Appointed to the FCA’s ‘Disclosure and Labels Advisory Group’ (DLAG), to aid the design of what is now ‘SDR’ – November 2021 (COP21) see: www.fca.org.uk/publication/fca/dlag-terms-of-reference.pdf
- Consultancy, data and support for the Fidelity International and interactive investor fund platforms.
- Technical author of the PIMFA ESG Academy – launched 2020
- TISA RSI committee member
- interactive investor – SRI Styles data and sustainable investment consultancy
- Parmenion Ethical Oversite Committee member since 2012
- RSMR collaboration since 2011
- Julia has also served on the (not for profit) UKSIF board for 10 of its c30 years, from November 2018 – October 2021 and from 2002 – 09, when she chaired their Retail Sub-Committee and helped set up National Ethical Investment Week, now ‘Good Money Week’.
- Awards Judge (various)
- Media contributor / conference speaker (various – since c1997)
- Organised annual Good Money Week events – see videos
Previous experience
Julia was formerly the SRI Marketing Manager at Friends Provident (who launched the UK’s first ethical fund), where she worked for 12 years having first learnt about this area whilst at NPI (1989-1994).
Fund EcoMarket (launched in its current form in 2015) and now boasts circa 2,000 users every month. The fund tool was the winner of ‘Best Sustainable & ESG Support Services Provider or Consultancy’ 2021 (Investment Week) and has been a finalist in a number of SRI awards including ‘Best SRI Research Provider’ finalist 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2021 (Investment Week). It was also runner up in the 2015 Corporation of London Sustainable City Awards (Sustainable Finance category) – and shortlisted again in 2016 (when the relevant category ceased to exist).
(Workload has prevented us from entering awards since 2021.)
Our approach to Net Zero and sustainability
Most people care about people and the planet, but too few build their personal preferences into investment decision making.
The part all investors must play in accelerating the transition to a sustainable future is crucial.
SRI Services’ purpose is to help change how people invest – primarily by sharing information sustainable, responsible, ESG and ethical fund strategies – so that investment decision making can improve. Our focus is to enable financial advisers and wealth managers – and therefore ultimately their clients – to play their part in supporting and encouraging higher sustainability standards.
Much of the data we collect and present is therefore focused on climate change and achieving Net Zero (greenhouse gas emissions), because of its importance, although we research many other important areas also.
Our core contribution towards addressing climate change is what we do as a business – although we also do what we can to manage our own footprint also. We operate from home so personal and business aspects are blurred, however the following are important to us:
- Transport. Business travel is, and always has been, mostly by train – we also mostly drive EV’s (since 2021).
- Server. Switched business website server to a company owned by Google, which claims to be ‘net zero’ (2023)
- Physical products. We rarely produce physical marketing materials, but when we do we request that they are as sustainable as possible (eg bags purchased for our annual event are made from recycled bottles).
- Energy: Air source heat pump fitted Q3 2023, solar panels fitted in 2010
About the information we present
We are passionate about ensuring the best possible ‘SRI’ specific information reaches advisers and their clients. We gather information directly from managers and present their fund information exactly as it is supplied to us – the only exception is if we find obvious errors. We do however set ‘SRI Styles’ classification ourselves.
By working in this way, we allow fund managers to present their fund strategies in their own words, explaining their aims, expertise and areas of focus. This information, alongside the filters and fields we ask them to select from help to make funds’ points of differentiation (and similarities) easier to identify and compare.
Our view is that this combination is the best way to enable intermediaries to compare what these funds do and why – guarding against the risk of researcher bias and information being lost in translation!
As you will see although many of these funds consider the same (or similar) high level issues, when you drill down to into fund strategies both the specific issues they consider and the fund objectives vary significantly. And rightly so – as clients’ aims and opinions are often highly personal and as such vary greatly!
Our hope and expectation is that the information we present here helps you to match client aims to fund options as easily and effectively as possible…
Our mission
To change the way people invest.
We are working to help change how people invest by making it easier for financial services intermediaries to bring environmental, social and ethical considerations into investment planning. We do this by providing fund information and related intermediary support for free – which ensures it is available to all.
What is Fund EcoMarket?
Fund EcoMarket is a free to use online database of information on sustainable, responsible and ethical investment (SRI) funds. The site is designed for financial advisers but ‘open source’ as SRI Services’ core mission is to raise awareness of investment options that take environmental and social issues and opportunities seriously.
The database is ‘whole of market’, listing all onshore, regulated, retail, screened and themed SRI funds – plus a few carefully selected additional options.
Fund EcoMarket filter options help users to find funds that meet clients’ personal aims and objectives. The site carries a wealth of support information and tools to help guide advisers in this area. This includes the SRI StyleFinder fact find support tool, which helps clients identify their best fit ‘SRI Styles’.
The site is free to use thanks to the support of our fund manager partners. Partner funds are listed first, with their logos displayed.
SRI Services’ research comes directly from fund managers and is transposed onto the site as received to avoid ‘research bias’. The tool is regularly updated and is ‘for information only’. SRI Services is not regulated and can not offer advice. We do not make recommendations or endorse specific products.