ethical loans?

I recently ran across a new approach to loans from an advertiser at PayPerPost. "Co-operative" loans are said to be lending money that has not been tainted by pollution-based firms or human rights abuses. Could it be that a large business such as this is actually making decisions that aren't entirely based on money? This is particularly shocking for a banking or lending business, but as their website states, "The Co-operative Bank turned away some £10m worth of business for ethical reasons last year..."

Sure, this could just be some sort of publicity stunt, and there could have been other reasons for shying away from these interactions, but it is respectable that they are willing to take a stand an voice their approach for all to see, as this would probably be apprehensive to some large corporations who don't want their business practices to come under scrutiny when approaching a business relationship with a banking institution.

If you really think about it, hitting the purse-strings of big business may be one of the most effective means of effecting change. In most cases, the businesses exploiting human decency and polluting our natural resources are often the very same ones who manage to be the most profitable, due to the corners that they are cutting. It takes a lot of guts to establish one's business in a competitive industry like the lending industry, and try and take such an aggressive ethical stance. Most companies have no problem publishing a canned "equal rights" ethical hiring and service agreement on their website, but to post ethical guidelines for the businesses that they interact with is a step beyond. I commend them for this.