One of the most important characteristic that a financial advisor must have is that he must be trustworthy. Sadly, this might not be the case at times and you can probably be at the brink of committing a bad financial decision if it so.

What you can do is to do a research about the financial advisor you are about to hire. He should have a good credit standing with no disciplinary actions issues or even lawsuits. You can also ask your family and friends to recommend to you a financial advisor they hired in the past who proved to be efficient.

Your financial advisor should have enough experience in his field. A 5 to 10 years work experience in the financial world can say a lot of things about the person you are going to work with. There are many agencies and organizations that award certifications and recognitions to financial advisors. It will add compliance to your choice if your financial advisor is credible and recognized by these financial organizations. Your chosen financial advisor should also have his own personal investments- which should be at a good standing too.

Educational background is also very important to make a financial advisor top notch. It is important that he has a financial degree. You should also look at his professional experience. If you are looking for financial help for your company, your advisor should have an experience in handling corporate finances and corporate accounts. If you are having trouble with your taxes, then look for someone whose expertise is on tax return.

Although you have a financial advisor present to work with you, it will always be your decision will seal a deal. Do not take any suggestion or recommendation simply because your financial advisor says it is a good investment. Study about and make a wise decision based on facts.

However these questions do have an underlying issue. Are we still subjected to and influenced by media perception or are we making informed and educated choices on the actual cost to the environment. A hybrid car (like planting trees) has an image and an associated lifestyle. But more noticeably it infects ego’s. It creates the British stiff upper lip and in the States the bold chest. Marketing at work again. Now I’m sure there are owners who are passionate activists for the Green movement and I’m positive they use their bicycles and grow their own vegetables. The niggle I have is we still have scientists debating the fundamentals on the global warming subject and with those debates set to continue until we’re ash we have to realise who is winning. Yet again the capitalistic instinct that is imbedded in the Western, generally Caucasian part of the world, will money be generated, circulated and distributed among the elite, potentially costing us our planet. I’ll be honest I do not march with the ‘Greens’ but the point is the mentality of business and fiscal gain will inevitably be the pitfall in the divine balance of life. Will have to see if the ‘Greens’ got it right. I’m on the fence.

The recession helped to decrease emissions in EU states by as much as 11% in the traded sector, which was due to carbon pricing being too low to initiate major investments, an article described. The 20 percent target is regarded as lacking the sufficiency and means to drive Europe towards low carbon energy, at a time when carbon is costing EUR14 per metric ton according to the European Emissions Trading Scheme. Creating a target of 30 percent would mean investors would have more certainty regarding low-carbon projects as governments would be forced to adapt new ‘green’ policies aimed at reducing the use of non-renewable energy.

While sticking to a 20 percent may prevent Europe from making the most out of low carbon energy investment opportunities, many business officials in Europe believe that a ‘unilateral’ increase in targets would hinder economic recovery. Folker Franz, who works on climate change policy for BusinessEurope said that while there was evidence to show that other countries such as the United States and China were becoming increasingly competitive on the ‘green’ agenda, these countries did not have a specific target to cut emissions.

Meanwhile, the European Commission called the recent proposal a ‘positive contribution’ to the debate regarding climate change, however it also estimated that achieving a 30 percent reduction target by 2020 post-recession would actually be more expensive than achieving a 20 percent reduction pre-recession.

The British government is currently proposing to create a special ’Green Investment Bank'which would encourage further low-carbon initiatives, if you want to check out what businesses are currently doing to curb their greenhouse emissions, the Enigin PLC employee blogs are a great place to start, not to mention an interesting read.