Budgeting, Ethics & Regulation, Investing, Psychology

Ethical investing & sustainable living resource list

This mega resource list contains a range of resources for you to explore if you’re interested in living a more ethical & sustainable lifestyle. This includes banking, sustainable living, personal values, investing, and community resources.

Sustainable living

ABC: Sustainable Living Articles – Articles written by the ABC of sustainable living topics.
Sustainable living guide – This database provides a range of different resources on all facets of sustainable living, including work, transport and garden.
Shop Ethical! – a complete consumer guide to shopping ethically. Common brands across all consumer categories are given an ethical rating – heaps of info!
Guide to greener electronics
Green electricity guide – independent unbiased ranking of the environmental performance of Australian electricity retailers (2018)
REenergise – Large companies account for 70% of emissions from electricity in Australia – this site ranks them to see who is leading the race to 100% renewable electricity by 2030
Choose Social enterprises – can look for companies with a Social Traders certificate
Baptist Care Ethical Fashion report/guide
Good on you App – ethical brand ratings
Can I recycle this? Easy to use tool to find out what you can and can’t recycle.

Health & wellbeing

The Good Trade – A 30-second newsletter delivered to your inbox each morning with tips for self-care and sustainable living.
Peppermint magazine – style, sustainability, substance – Peppermint is an Australian quarterly print magazine focused on style, sustainability and substance.
Choose Fairtrade products
Melbourne Uni Ethics & Well-being Hub – The Ethics & Well-being Hub seeks to better understand how people make ethical decisions, how these decisions are shaped by processes within and around them, and how these factors influence their quality of life and mental health.
Student Wellbeing Guide for Schools – This guide provides an overview of student wellbeing – what it is, why it matters and how to nurture it in young people.

Banking & finance

Responsible Returns – This search tool from RIAA helps you find responsible or ethical banking, superannuation and investment products matching your values and interests (commission free)
Ethical Super Fund Ratings (Ethical Advisers Co-op) – Find out how your fund is rated by the Ethical Advisers Co-Operative in terms of its suitability for an average ethical investor.
BFO – The Banking and Finance Oath – The BFO is an independent organisation whose purpose is to improve society by raising the moral and ethical standards of the banking and finance industry through the implementation of the Oath.

Personal values & ethics

The Ethics Centre – Bringing ethics to the centre of everyday life – A wealth of resources on topical issues concerning ethics, and they also offer a free ethics hotline that can help you find clarity and a path forward.
Environment + Energy – The Conversation – Topical articles on environmental articles by the world’s leading publisher of research-based news and analysis.
Personal Ethics: What They Are and Why They’re Important – A guide to helping you understand your own ethics in the workplace.
Personal Values: How to Know Who You Really Are – This article may help in identifying your core values and how they apply in your life.

Investment resources & research

From Values to Riches 2020 Charting consumer expectations and demand for responsible investing in Australia (RIAA)
Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) – a website and initiative created in partnership with the UN. It establishes 6 principles for responsible investing.
Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative
Market Forces – this website helps you identify Super funds, insurance companies and banks who take ESG seriously. It’s honest and insightful.
Leaf Ratings — Ethical fund ratings – this website could help you identify ETFs, fund managers or Super funds that claim to provide ethical or ESG focused investment strategies.
RIAA (Responsible Investment Association of Australasia) – the leading independent body on ESG scoring, reporting and verification in our region. The website has tools to find advisers, how fund managers can certify and more.
RIAA annual investment reports “Benchmark Reports” (PDFs) – referenced throughout our course, these PDFs provide a concise summary of the performance of ESG focused investment funds versus those that are not ESG focused.
Best ETFs Australia – ethical ETF list — use our list and our free reports as the starting point for reviewing all of the top ethical ETFs in Australia.

Volunteering & community

If you enjoyed this list and are keen to learn more, use the links. Or, if you find something better for us to include — get in contact and we’ll add it to the list!