Funds allocated to Scottish sustainable businesses noted a rise of 7 percent in 2016 reaching GBP 100.9mn.
Triodos, an ethics-driven bank established in 1980 has funded over 130 sustainable projects across Scotland or more than 16 percent of the UK total.
However, lending growth has slowed from 21 percent in 2015 to seven percent in 2016. But the bank said the amount it has invested in Scotland has doubled in the last five years. One of the reasons for the halt is that, with more people turning on to ethical banking as a concept, the bank has more money to dish out.
Netherlands-based Triodos, which will launch a current account next month, uses the cash deposited by savers to invest in companies and projects, with the return it makes being used to fund the interest it pays.
Triodos head of retail banking Huw Davies said: “Our business model is quite simple. We take in savers’ money and we lend it to projects, organisations, charities and businesses that are working for positive change in society, culture and the environment. Our purpose and mission is to make money work for positive change.
“We do research about people’s attitudes and we are finding that more and more people do want to do this. We found recently that three-quarters of people don’t know what their money is used for by banks but that two-thirds want it to be used for something positive that’s aligned to their values.
“There’s been a real growth in people making positive choices about food, transport and energy. Banking has lagged behind but people are now saying ‘what can I do differently with my money?’.”
The most recent Scottish project combines the Triodos’s main interests in the country, with the Hoprigshiels community windfarm being developed by Berwickshire Housing Association (BHA) as a means of funding new homes for social rental.
Read more at The Herald.