Green is good, but is good green? There is a large and growing number of "green" funds in the market, some of which are also marketed as ethical investment funds, and some not. But many investors are unaware of the stark differences that sometimes exist between funds that are ethically managed - good - and funds that seek to capitalise on the business opportunities of climate change - green.

"Very loose language is used by general ethical and SRI [socially responsible investment] funds [in regard to whether they are invested on environmentally sound principles], and a lot of confusion persists [between green and ethical funds]. We all tend to get landed under the same umbrella," says James Vaccaro, managing director of Triodos Renewables , a member of the Triodos family of companies.