Ethical investing needs to grapple with AI challenges: Pathfinder
Pathfinder chief executive John Berry says demand for ethical investing continues to grow, even as developments in technology throw up new challenges.
Wednesday, July 1st 2026, 6:00AM
Pathfinder took the top award at the Mindful Money awards again this year, named Best Ethical Investment Provider for the sixth year in a row.
Berry said Pathfinder did not aim for awards but focused on doing its work and trying to “push the boundary and push further to keep improving”. “That keeps us relevant and we’ve shown leadership for our investors, and it’s a wonderful acknowledgment to win the awards but that’s certainly not why we’re doing our work.”
He said there was growing demand, awareness and interest in ethical investing. He said people wanted positive change without compromising on returns.
“I think as long as we deliver that, the interst and demand for thetical investing or sustainable investing, whatever you want to call it, is continuing to grow. And the impact space, as well.”
He said the investing landscape was changing, with 10 companies in the S&P500 making up 40 percent of the index. “That’s a very, very unusual concentration and a heavy concentration risk in the index.
“What are the AI and tech companies doing in terms of their place in global indices and global markets?
“On top of that you’ve got, from an ethical perspective, thinking about how is AI being used? What is the future of AI? There are ethical challenges around AI, there are environmental challenges around it. It can solve a lot of challenges, solve a lot of problems for the world. But there are also a lot of issues that come with it.
"As ethical investors, we think about that as well. For example, the integration of AI into weapons systems… we did a really big piece of work last year and ended up divesting IBM and Amazon off the back of it, [for] their involvement in weapons systems. It’s a very complicated area.”
He said no ethical investment or responsible investment policy was geared to deal with the challenges of AI yet. “We’re doing a lot of work on what does this mean around our policy, do we have to change, we have some general principles that we’re using at the moment… it’s actually a whole new area that the world is advancing and changing and ethical investing needs to advance and change with it.”
He said Pathfinder was now managing $1.2 billion and growing.
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