Invest for good 

Ethical funds have become more and more popular in recent years as investors look for ways to grow their wealth responsibly. Investing your money in renewable energy, sustainable businesses or community infrastructure may make a positive impact in the world, but what about the impact on your wallet? What sort of returns can you expect from an ethical investment and how do they compare to other types of investments?

Responsible investors can be forgiven for experiencing more than a little schadenfreude over Johnson & Johnson's tumble on US markets before Christmas.

The US healthcare giant saw more than $54 billion wiped from its sharemarket value in a single day following reports that it knew batches of its iconic baby powder were contaminated with asbestos, a known carcinogen. And since then the rout has continued.

But for responsible investors, those that consider a company's environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance alongside traditional financial measures such as revenue growth, profit, loss and balance sheet strength, the reports contained nothing new.

A new platform called Loop promises to enforce zero-waste management by its coalition of companies that include Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Nestle (NYSE: NSYGY) and Unilever (NYSE: UN). Announced at last week’s World Economic Forum (WEF), Loop was developed by global recycling company TerraCycle with an objective to collect, clean, refill and reuse packaging of consumer products like Tropicana juice containers and Pantene shampoo bottles. The first in-market tests will commence in New York and Paris this year with plans to expand to Toronto, among other cities, in 2020