Ethical investing, also known as sustainable or Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing is having a moment. It is an approach to investing that focuses on investing in companies making positive impacts.
If you're concerned about the environment or social inequality, you might be interested in investing in ethical Australian companies that share these concerns.
For those who want to invest responsibly but wonder whether investing ethically will lessen profitability, we've rounded up a few ethically minded companies performing well on the ASX.
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3 ASX shares with strong ethical values that are making coin in 2021
Vicinity Centres (ASX: VCX)
Vicinity Centres is one of Australia's leading retail property groups. It operates 63 shopping centres throughout the country with an extensive ESG strategy.
Last year, Vicinity invested over $5 million into communities while consulting with over 300 people to further improve its culture, values, and behaviour. It also began work on a plan to manage sustainability and slavery risks within its supply chains and received a 4-star Green Star performance portfolio rating – making it Australia's highest-rated retail property portfolio.
The Vicinty Centres' share price is up a respectable 5% year to date, and 15.09% over the last 12 months.
The ethical Australian company has a market capitalisation of around $7.7 billion with approximately 4.5 billion shares outstanding.
Ecograf Ltd (ASX: EGR)
Ecograf is creating high purity graphite for the lithium-ion battery market. It uses environmentally responsible purification technology to produce sustainable battery anode graphite. Ecograf has also developed a process to help reduce battery waste by recycling minerals to improve battery lifecycle efficiency.
Ecograf's share price is currently up a whopping 323% year to date, going from 17 cents to 72 cents. The company's shares are also trading 1,233% higher over the last 12 months.
It has a market capitalisation of around $329 million with approximately 454 million shares outstanding.
Seek Ltd (ASX: SEK)
Seek is an online employment marketplace trading on the Australian share market. Based in Melbourne, Seek has a presence in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe, and South America.
Not only does the company have strong ESG strategies, over the last 18 months Seek has worked to help Australians in need, including helping the Flying Doctors Service attract urgently needed medical staff during the 2019 bushfires and guiding people through COVID-19 related employment challenges.
Seek's share price has a 12-month return of 73%, having increased by $11.66 since this time last year. Its year-to-date return isn't as exciting, it's currently down 5.9% as it bounces back from a large drop in late February.
Seek has a market capitalisation of $9.7 billion with approximately 353 million shares outstanding.
