Ethical investment advisors at Barchester Green Investment, the ethical funds specialists, have published their latest best and worst list for the current crop of ethical and environmental funds available to UK investors.

Jupiter Ecology was voted the best fund based on recent research. Jupiter, an environmental and ethical fund with an already impressive record, invests throughout the UK, Europe, North America and the Far East. The fund received praise for its transparency and pro-active ethical investment record as well as a good rate of returns.

The classifications were not based simply on financial performances but also to the degree to which Barchester advisors believed the better funds had built in ethical or environmental integrity.

The ethical funds which met the list were all ones excluding companies involved in certain areas of business which were considered unethical by prospective investors.

Barchester says it tends to prefer funds where, among other things, there is an in-house research team rather than just reliance on EIRIS, the Ethical Research and Information Service, for guidance; and also funds where fund managers could communicate openly about their ethical strategies.

Second on the list of recommended funds was The IM WHEB Sustainability Fund. Third was Black Rock New Energy Technology. Fourth on the recommended list of ethical funds was the AEGON Ethical Equity Fund and the fifth best, in the eyes of Barchester’s team, was Impax Environmental Leaders.

The funds labelled as having the worst ethical record were mainly named and shamed for holding stocks in oil producers such as Shell and BP; as well as other companies with a less than impressive environmental record.

Zurich Environmental Opportunities Pension Fund headed up this list. More information on funds receiving both a thumbs up and a thumbs down from Barchester can be found at their website: barchestergreen.co.uk.