Although ESG investments account for less than 5% of assets under advice at Lewis Brownlee Financial Services – £11m out of a total £252m– the firm is increasingly going green.

Around 17% of overall fund recommendations over the past year were specifically ESG, ethical or impact, and the firm, led by managing director Steve Burns, is encouraging clients to think sustainably by paying for 10 trees to be planted locally for every client that invests in one of its responsibly managed portfolios.

At a company level, Lewis Brownlee introduced a remote-working policy to reduce its carbon footprint and has switched to more energy-efficient appliances, a local eco-friendly supplier of office food and a green web-hosting platform.

Elsewhere, it has greater visibility of its client bank and can offer a more enhanced and relevant client experience through the data insights afforded by its new WealthCraft back-office system.

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