Jupiter's Thomas on the future of SRI after Rio

Last month's Rio Earth Summit, written off as a disappointment by most, still produced encouraging signs for socially responsible investors, according to Jupiter's Charlie Thomas.

The summit, a UN conference on sustainable development held on the anniversary of the 1992 Rio Summit which gave rise to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, produced little in the way of concrete action. Thomas, manager of the £353m Jupiter Ecology fund, said this lack of political dynamism was less significant than the suggestion corporates are now taking it upon themselves to develop their own environmentally-friendly practices. "At the moment I think governments are all inward looking, sorting out other issues. The impetus is still at the corporate level and I do not thi...