Teresa Madaleno

There is a growing feeling that climate action and cash go together. In other words, projects like energy efficiency and greening the planet will not necessarily lead to poor returns. Some experts say that investors who are willing to take a broad view, can enjoy profits from sustainability initiatives.

Some investors are used to fast returns. For example, investing in tech companies like Instagram and Snapchat. However, there are some models that call for more patience and this includes companies that are socially conscious – those who may take longer to reach all their goals.

As recently pointed out in Entrepreneur magazine, BlackRock, an asset management company, looked at 2000 different companies and discovered that 20 percent that were strongest in reducing carbon beat the global stock market by close to 6 percent.

Having said this, those interested in the environment do need to do their research so that they can weed through the many options when it comes to supporting environment-based companies. In other words, some environment friendly products and services will obviously do much better than others. For example, there are environment conscious concepts linked to autonomous driving, and research suggests that autonomous driving is coming sooner rather than later. In five years, one-third of trucks in the UK could be self-driven. Something to think about?

Leading healthcare organizations are trying to do their part to encourage environmental action. This includes everything from preventing illnesses from environmental influences to improving energy efficiency within hospital buildings. There are even some health institutions that are focused on using foods from local sources in order to decrease pesticide consumption and thus promote less use of harmful chemicals.

The above are just a couple examples. It is also worth considering partnerships within environment-focused companies. It is believed that many socially conscious companies can attribute their success to partnerships. A company that aligns itself with like-minded people; people who understand the vision, who are financially smart, and are passionate, will be able to see the project through to success no matter how long it takes.

Marketing experts contend that rapidly improving technologies will make sustainable solutions more viable in the months and years to come thus making many environmental efforts that once seemed impossible, possible.