Społecznie odpowiedzialne inwestowanie na rynku europejskim

The main goal of the article is to present the general characteristic of socially responsible investment on European market. The paper is based on the polish and international literature and statistical data from publications Eurosif and Novetic. First part of the article discusses the definitions and main investment strategies of that form of investment. The analysis is based on different definitions of the term ”SRI” offered by literature. Most of all, SRI include environment, social and governance criteria in the investment decision-making process. In the second part special attention was devoted to institutional background SRI market in Europe. The European Union and the Eurosif play significant role in promoting the idea of socially responsible investment and supporting development of this financial market segment. Integral part of the paper are statistic data from SRI market. Research results allow to claim that the European SRI market have a growth potential in the future and Europe can become world leader socially responsible investment in long-term perspective.