Ever since the Church Commissioners for England was established in 1948, it has applied a range of ethical investment exclusions to the assets it owns – areas that it doesn’t directly invest in because of its values. But this is not a static list – it has changed over time in line with developments in wider society; for example, a tobacco exclusion was added in the 1960s when evidence about the harmful effects of tobacco became impossible to ignore, and more recently as climate change has become undeniable, exclusions have been introduced for companies that derive significant revenues from coal mining or oil sands extraction.

The Church’s exclusion list now encompasses companies involved in armaments, gambling, tobacco, pornography, high-cost lending, civilian firearms, human embryonic cloning, and various contributors to climate change. There is a more nuanced approach to alcohol, however, as the Church doesn’t object to alcohol per se, only its misuse. So recently it launched a new policy on alcohol where it assesses companies on how responsible they are in their approach to marketing and retailing. Edward Mason, the Church Commissioners’ head of responsible investment, says: “We do have the possibility to invest in companies involved in alcohol but only if we’re satisfied that they are responsible operators.”