To give long-term capital growth by investing in companies, mainly in the UK, which show a positive commitment to the protection and preservation of the natural environment.
UK equities lost ground over the six months to the end of September. Markets reacted negatively to the growing global financial crisis and fears about the scale of the economic downturn to follow. Trading conditions have been very volatile. Investment restrictions placed on the fund as part of its environmental mandate meant it largely missed out on the gains made during the early part of the period by some of the better performers in the resources sectors.Recently, though, commodities prices have fallen. The fund has considerable exposure to companies that are sensitive to economic conditions. In a volatile time for financial markets, the timing of any recovery in these stocks will be crucial to the fund's performance relative to the All-Share index.