We are committed to developing and providing products that enable our clients to gain exposure to environmental markets. Climate change and the associated resource efficiency drivers are increasingly seen as long term investment themes. As David Macdonald, Director, Barclays Capital, commented on the launch of our Ecological Trio Deposit Account.

“We’ve recently seen a significant shift in focus towards climate change and wider ecological themes. This is reflected in regular press coverage, governmental policy change and increasingly in investment products that contribute to increased sustainability. Strong investment flows, wider awareness and favourable regulation now make many of the companies in the environmental and ecological sectors great opportunities for the equity investor.

We are delighted to have collaborated with three of Europe’s leading ecological fund managers in creating this new deposit. We believe that the strong diversification in the product – the three separate Investment Management firms, the three diverse investment themes and the global remit of the funds – should prove extremely attractive to investors, particularly when considering recent concerns over market volatility and risk. Combining this with the 100% capital protection, and participation in only the upside of the ecological funds, we expect this to be one of our strongest product launches to date.”

The Ecological Trio Deposit Account was launched in 2008 and offers protected exposure to a basket of three leading ecological funds: Pioneer Funds – Global Ecology; KBC Eco Fund – Water; and Vontobel Fund – Global Trend New Power.

Other recent investment products that have environmental themes include:

The IShares S&P Global Clean Energy ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) offers exposure to shares of around 30 of the world’s largest publicly traded companies involved in clean energy production or the manufacture of equipment and technology for the clean energy industry. This fund gives diversified exposure to the clean energy sector, an emerging alternative asset class, and can help diversify a portfolio away from broad based equities and bonds.

Barclays iPath Global Carbon ETNs (Exchange Traded Note) seek to replicate the Barclays Capital Global Carbon Index Total Return. This index is tied to the performance of the most liquid carbon-related credit plans, and as such is looked at as an industry benchmark for carbon investors.

Information on investment products contained in this publication is provided strictly for illustrative purposes and should not be deemed an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy shares of any securities that are described in this publication. This publication is not intended to provide investment advice or a recommendation. You may not rely upon this publication in evaluating the merits of investing in any product listed herein. Any investment decision with respect to any product should be made by you solely upon the information contained in any final offering document or other offering materials relating to such product. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal.