Over half of Scottish savers and investors say they want at least some of their money invested according to green and ethical criteria, according to a new poll.
The 55% finding from YouGov is well above the 45% recorded for the UK as a whole.
Scotland also has a slightly higher proportion of adults already taking green and ethical issues into account when saving and investing, at 15%, against a 14% UK average.
The proportion interested in a green and ethical pension if available rose to 12%, while healthcare overtook climate change as the leading issue seen as worthy of investment support, up to 40% from 37% last year.
The survey found a 50% rise in the number of investors UK-wide who want their bank or financial adviser to tell them about 'impact investing' – investments that produce both a financial and a social or environmental benefit – up from 36% a year ago to 55%.
The study was conducted for National Ethical Investment Week.
Meanwhile, the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) has said "responsibly invested assets" in the UK have hit a record £806 million, accounting for 18% of the total responsible investment market in Europe.
Penny Shepherd, chief executive of UKSIF, said: "This year has seen the shareholder spring and a summer of banking scandals, and it's clear more people than ever want to make money and make a difference with savings and investments."
Patrick Connolly, financial planner at advisers AWD Chase de Vere, which has offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh, said: "Ethical investing has regularly been touted for a growth explosion but ... it has never really taken off.
"It is difficult to construct an investment portfolio that will replicate the ethical beliefs of an individual investor. Many ethical investors may have been surprised to see their fund holding BP at the time of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill."
A Herald survey found the likes of HSBC, Standard Chartered bank and mid-sized oil companies featuring in the top 10 investments of many of the most popular ethical funds. The most popular large stocks are Vodafone, GlaxoSmithKline and BG.
Mr Connolly said ethical investors had to accept less diversification and a bias towards smaller companies, potentially heightening risk and volatility, and added: "If you think of the best fund managers, very few, if any, manage ethical funds."
But he added: "For those who are keen to invest ethically we like the Aberdeen Ethical World, Jupiter Ecology, Kames Ethical Corporate Bond and Standard Life Ethical Corporate Bond funds."
The Aberdeen fund returned 10.7% over five years against 3.1% for the world index, according to Trustnet figures, but is less convincing shorter term.
Jupiter Ecology trails the world index over one, three and five years. The Kames bond fund is ahead of the sterling corporate bond index over three years only, while the Standard Life bond fund beats the same index over one and five years. There is a free ethical fund guide at www. bestinvest.co.uk/ethical
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