Standard Life Investments, the UK-based fund management division of Standard Life, is marking National Ethical Investment Week with the launch of a European Corporate Bond Sustainable and Responsible Investing fund.

The fund is managed by Samantha Lamb, investment director, and backed by investment director Craig MacDonald. The firm said it is unavailable to firms which fail to comply with the principles of the United Nations Global Compact, or those with a poor record of performance and disclosure on sustainability issues in sectors with high sensitivity to environmental and social factors.

“Our European Corporate Bond fund has been popular across Europe, but we are now experiencing demand for an SRI version in particular from the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Switzerland," Julie McDowell, head of SRI, said in a statement.

In a sign that the appeal of such investments is by no means abating, EIRIS, the sustainable investment research firm, announced earlier this week that there is currently some £11 billion ($17.7 billion) invested in the UK’s green and ethical funds, up from £4 billion 10 years ago.

Meanwhile, a survey carried out by Ecclesiastical Investment Management suggests that this figure is set to move even higher: the firm found that 17 per cent of investors will now consider ethical investing as a result of the banking crisis (view the article here).