Live Earth, A Year of Living Generously, (RED)

These are just some of the ethical and environmental campaigns that are making the news and rightly so...

At the moment, political parties, oil companies and retailers are all trying to associate themselves with saving rather than destroying the planet!

Now UK banks (lagging behind everyone as usual) are trying to get in on the act, but are they serious and can they be trusted?

Whether you are after a credit card or a current account, banks are all launching new financial products and showing off their environmental credentials.

But (and not surprisingly) critics suggest banks are simply dusting off their run-of-the-mill financial products and giving them a "greenwash"; they say it is all about shifting products rather than saving the planet...

Other banks and building societies are trying to plug into the popularity of all things green but in smaller ways.

HSBC has pledged to pay £5 to environmental causes for each current account customer who moves to a paperless account. Paperless not only means joining the "no statement" trend - but also dispensing with a chequebook.

Meanwhile, Britannia building society has launched a children's investment product, rather grandly called the Planet Saver!

For every new account opened between July and September, Britannia says, a tree will be planted by the Woodland Trust. The child gets a paper certificate telling them that they have adopted a new tree. As a result, several thousand trees are likely to be planted.

Against the backdrop of growing carbon emissions and climate change, HSBC's and Britannia's efforts could be seen as nothing more than a small gesture.

However, bank industry insiders say other High Street banks are poised to link new current accounts, savings accounts and credit cards to the green tide; in other words, green will soon be the banking industry's new black!

"Banks have been slow to pick up on the green agenda compared to petrochemical firms," says Ned Colville, a brand consultant at The Value Engineers.

But the banks' efforts to date do not impress Mr Colville who says "You can't just nod towards green living and tick that box; you have to follow through on your promises at all levels of the business. Some people will buy into what the banks are now saying but others will look more deeply and not be fooled."

Ethics and banking going hand in hand may seem unusual to many of us but there are companies who have been involved in ethical thinking for a while:

• Triodos Bank is one of Europe's leading ethical banks that was established in 1980 and enables money to work for positive social, environmental and cultural change.

• The Co-Operative Back which in 1992 was the first bank in the world to introduce a customer-led Ethical Policy; (15 years later they are still the only UK high street bank with a customer-led Ethical Policy!)

• Smile (the internet bank) is also part of the Co-Operative group so has the same strict ethical policy too!

• If you want to invest then you should look at the Jupiter Ecology Fund. The fund invests in companies on a global basis that are respondto the challenges of environmental sustainability and it was the the first authorised green unit trust to be launched in the UK. It has strict company selection and applies a full range of environmental, social and ethical exclusions.

But there are banks that are trustworthy and have been quietly making a difference for years; and they are worth giving your money to!