In a report to the council’s audit and risk subcommittee last week, corporate services general manager Nick Donnelly said councillors first called for a discussion on an "ethical investment policy" last month.
At the subcommittee meeting, councillors called for a workshop on the matter before the council confirmed its investment policy.
The council’s investment managers at JBWere were given no formal direction on ethical investing, yet investments in child labour, weapons and nuclear energy were already excluded, as were others such as tobacco, Mr Donnelly said on Thursday.
However, councillors could consider expanding the list of exclusions to include other restrictions such as "mining, oil, gas, fossil fuels", he said.
Councillors could consider amending the council’s investment policy to sit wherever they chose on a "responsible and ethical investment spectrum", as presented by JBWere.
The council could also move to the far end of the spectrum, whereby its investments would be aimed at making positive environmental or social change, he said.
Cr Alan Somerville said he wanted the council to make ethical investments "proudly and publicly", in order to be an example for other councils and organisations in New Zealand.
"As an organisation whose chief role is around environmental management, I think we should use whatever levers we have for action on climate change, and this is one of them.
"As an organisation that strives to be a good employer, we should not invest in industries that exploit their workers.
"And as an organisation that promotes the wellbeing of its citizens, we should look to invest in industries that support well-being as well."
Cr Kate Wilson said it had never been clear why the list of investments the council made was not public.
If the council needed to sign off on its investment policy at the next meeting, some form of workshop on the matter would be required in the meantime, she said.
Cr Gary Kelliher warned against too much enthusiasm for ethical investing without considering the consequences.
"There’s a real risk, I think, that we delve into some direction that actually substantially affects the returns that we get and also then heads us off on a tangent that’s possibly not where we want to be."
The committee’s independent co-chairman Andrew Douglas said over the last 12 months, just because of how the markets had been, "worldwide, the ESG [environmental, social and governance] funds have performed some of the worst".
"So, we need to do [ethical investing] with our eyes wide open in terms of the place that we want to go, for the right reasons, but also the other impact of that."
The subcommittee directed staff to schedule a workshop on ethical investing before the council’s statement of investment policies and objectives was adopted.
