With stories about global warming, human rights and environmental concerns grabbing the headlines, online share dealing expert Alliance Trust Savings reveals that 26 per cent take ethical concerns into account.

Of the 1,000 online investors asked, 51 per cent told Alliance Trust that financial returns are their sole concern and 26 per cent stated they are balancing their wish to make money with their ethical views on which companies to back and which to avoid.

Claudia Philips, managing director of Investment Dealing at Alliance Trust Savings, says: ‘Ethical and environmental issues have worked their way quickly up the UK’s agenda, both for society as a whole and for individual investors.

‘Growing support for socially responsible behaviour has led many companies to reassess their impact on the world around them and there are now many more options available for investors who would like to apply their ethical views to their investments. These range from direct equity investment and unit trusts to ISAs and specific cause-based investments supporting certain projects or schemes.’