FTSE opens first eco-index

Greenbang’s knowledge of the stock market is a little shaky to say the least. Say ‘pork futures’ and she thinks of scratchings (or, to put it another way ‘fried skin’ or ‘hairy crisps’). Gordon Gecko would not be impressed.

While Greenbang might not know much about the FTSE, it looks like the FTSE knows enough about green: it’s opening up its first eco-index, under the banner of the Environmental Opportunities All-Share Index.

There will be 450 companies trading on the index, all specialising in areas like “alternative energy, water and waste management” and getting a “minimum of 20% of their revenue comes from environmental markets or technologies”.

The top ten companies have already been picked, and they are (in order): Siemens, Suez, Iberdrola, ABB, United Technologies, 3M, ENEL, Emerson Electric, Honeywell and Philips.

The Environmental Opportunities All-Share Index is already attracting some notice: according to the FTSE, Russell Investments have already licensed the index for an “environmental technology multi-manager fund”.