Companies that offer financial services such as loans and mortgages are being urged to provide ethical products by the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society.
The building society said that financial providers should offer ethical or green services if they care about the environment and take the future seriously.
An example of a green product would be a mortgage that is offset by contributions from the lender to charity, such as that offered by the Co-operative Bank, which donates to Climate Care.
Andy Hammerton, spokesperson for Co-operative Financial Services, said that one in three customers choose the bank because of its ethical stance.
“This issue is now more at the heart of consumers when they purchase their products,” he said.
However, he added that although the Co-operative Bank might be in a position to provide these services, “whether it is right for other organisations to provide these services I don’t think it is our place to say”.
The Co-operative Bank is labelled as an ethical bank as it does not invest in companies involved with issues such as the arms trade or genetic engineering.
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