The Big Question: What are the big ethical investment stories for the next 12 months?

Douglas McNeill investment director at Charles Stanley   Tobacco The next 12 months will feature four big themes. First, the inherent tension between trustees’ desire for exposure to alternative asset classes – which often means private equity funds – and the difficulty of tracking the underlying holdings of such funds. The Church of England’s recent agonies over its inadvertent and indirect support for Wonga, illustrate the point beautifully.   Second, clothing supply chains that involve dangerous and unpleasant working conditions in Bangladesh and elsewhere. Should Western...