Australian Ethical reports that only four of the stocks held in its domestic equity portfolios (including its Superannuation fund) will be directly impacted by the carbon price legislation, due to start from 1 July 2012.
“We are not that surprised that our exposure to a price on carbon is so low. Australian Ethical avoids coal and uranium mining and other industries that are unnecessarily harmful to the environment. However, we know that, like all taxes, it would be hard to completely avoid all carbon-intensive companies.
“The smart players concluded long ago that a price on carbon was inevitable. However, our stock selection process has not changed in any way as the carbon legislation nears, so it is good to see that our approach of only investing in stocks that are positively impacting society is working well,” said Paul Smith, General Manager, Strategy & Communications at Australian Ethical.
The four stocks in Australian Ethical’s portfolios are:
- DBNGP
- Energy Developments
- Envestra
- Snowy Hydro
Australian Ethical expects that over 250 companies will fall under the carbon legislation in the next financial year.