FTSE4Good Seeks a Middle Way with Its Exclusion Policy

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Mark Makepeace of FTSE International is delighted that aspects of his ethical FTSE4Good index have been criticised by the CBI and Friends of the Earth.

He says: "Ours is not a green index. It is our attempt to include companies that support mainstream beliefs on what should constitute best practice in corporate social responsibility.

"As time goes on, and attitudes evolve, we may well raise the bar, particularly as far as high impact companies are concerned."

Areas such as the sectors to which banks lend may come under scrutiny at some point, together with close monitoring of performance data on the environmental front.

Makepeace agrees it may be relevant to assess the ways in which companies are allocating research and development spending.

He has personally driven FTSE's decision to start an ethical index: "I've supported Unicef projects for some time. I like the charity because its work is global, it encourages a …