Accounts

Probably the best-known ethical bank is the Co-operative Bank, which claims to be the only high-street bank that gives its customers a say in how their money is used. The Co-op ensures compliance by making new business customers fill out an Ethical Policies questionnaire, which is assessed by the bank before agreeing to provide business services.

The Co-op's Ethical Policy covers human rights, the arms trade, genetic modification, animal welfare, ecological impact, global trade and corporate responsibility. In addition to ethical investment on a global scale, the bank is involved in local community projects and engaged with issues such as low-income households' costs of credit.

The Co-op offers the full range of banking services and products, including accounts, loans, charity credit cards, mortgages, investments, insurance and pensions.

Online provider Smile, part of the Co-op Bank, is included in the Co-op's ethical policy and offers a current account with higher account interest and lower overdraft interest than the high street banks.

Triodos Bank offers several savings accounts with a difference: customers can target their funds to help specific causes, such as human rights organisations, social housing or environmental causes, depending on which account they choose.

The Regular Saver and Young Saver accounts can be opened with just £25; like Triodos's other savings accounts, the minimum notice period for accessing account funds is 33 days. The Social Investor savings account covers a range of ethical targets, while their Partnership accounts can invest directly in issue-specific organisations, such as Amnesty International, or cover a broader range, such as the Charity Saver account which benefits UK charities.

The high street banks generally have a less rigorous approach to ethical banking and investment. However, many are looking to provide options for customers seeking an ethical option, often in the form of credit cards that benefit charities. Charity credit cards usually pay an initial donation to the charity when the card account is first opened, then donate a small amount for each denomination of money, usually 100GBP, spent on the card.

The Royal Bank of Scotland offers customers the option to support the Royal National Lifeboats Institute or the Woodland Trust. Customers of the Bank of Scotland can donate to Mencap, Cancer Research UK (Scotland) or the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and Nationwide's card benefits Comic Relief.

Investments and pensions

Since 3 July 2000, all UK company pension fund trustees have been required to disclose their ethical policy. This does not, of course, mean that schemes are required to have an ethical policy, but simply that it is now easier for employees to evaluate their pension funds and influence their funds' ethics. Employees can band together to make themselves heard and influence how their money is invested.

If you are setting up your own stakeholder pension, you will have fewer ethical funds to choose from than regular funds, but the market is still large enough to provide consumers with choice through providers such as Axa, Friends Provident and Standard Life.

Those with more money to spend can invest in a standard personal pension, which offers greater choice of funds but usually costs more than a stakeholder plan.

As for investors, Friends Provident's Stewardship Fund is the original and perhaps the best-known ethical investment fund. The full range of Stewardship Life and Pension funds share Friends Provident's ethical policy, but different funds focus on different sectors: some UK and some global.

However, Friends Provident has by no means cornered the market - most investment companies offer at least an ethical fund option, from Aberdeen Asset Management to Insight Investment Management's Evergreen fund and Standard Life's UK Ethical fund.

If you own shares in a company, it pays to keep abreast of its activities: read annual reports, study the business pages and let your fund manager know if you are unhappy with its activities.

People seeking an appropriate fund to invest in must remember that the value of investments can go up or down and is not guaranteed; it is important to seek the advice of an independent financial advisor when choosing an investment vehicle.

Some financial advisors specialise in ethical investments. EIRIS offers a directory of ethical financial advisors, as well as a guide to choosing an IFA.

Ethical power providers

Online bank Smile not only provides ethical products for its customers: it uses them for itself, and claims to source 98% of its electricity from renewable sources.

It's possible for consumers to be equally ethical with their choice of power provider, and because the industry is regulated by OFGEM, all companies are required to maintain a reliable supply. Good Energy supplies only fully renewable energy sourced from wind farms, solar power and hydro plants. Ecotricity concentrates its efforts on building wind farms to supply clean energy, and plants a tree in the Ecotricity Forest in Gloucestershire for each person who switches to their company.

Green Energy UK seeks to ensure that 'green' energy costs the same as non-renewable energy and offers a 10% green option that costs the same as your regular supplier, and a 100% green option that costs slightly more.

Gas and electricity supplier Ebico is run on a not-for-profit basis and uses wealthier direct-debit customers to effectively subsidise poorer households on prepay and quarterly billing plans.

According to Friends of the Earth, 22% of greenhouse gases come from domestic energy uses, so it's worth making even small changes around the house such as using energy-saving light bulbs or buying a more energy-efficient fridge.