ESG investing has become very high profile in the last few years, as investors have forced fund houses to consider the long-term impact of their investments.

But while much of the focus has been in active investment, focus is shifting to indices, or passive investment as a potential way in to ESG investing.

The active sector may have the high profile managers who make a big story about how they select their stocks, but indices have their own way of making stock selections, which allow investors who favour passive investments a chance to also take account of ESG factors.

Part of this is because indexing does not have to be completely passive - smart beta strategies allow for some kind of stock selection, and even some strategies allow for overweighting some stocks.

In fact, for many investors, who want low cost investments with ESG credentials, with low involvement on stewardship, but with access to a broad range of stocks, ESG-based indices may be more suitable.

It is still possible to be involved in some of these stocks, however.

While there will not be the same level of active participation on the part of the fund manager, a stock that is excluded from an index based on ESG factors, will not attract the capital from investors.

As this guide aims to show, ESG investing through indices have a lot to offer.