Prefacing the launch of the fourth Observer Ethical Awards, we've chosen to highlight 20 of the biggest ethical ideas around at the moment, affording some respite to the prevailing jam-side-down version of life on offer almost everywhere else. Because while there might be a paucity of cash and unadulterated resources, one thing we have in abundance is ingenuity. As Nicholas Stern, author of the eponymous Stern Review, puts it: "There are more incentives to invest in energy efficiency during a recession and when oil prices are high." From constraints come great innovations…
It would be disingenuous to suggest that there isn't a sense of urgency about all this, as Emma Howard Boyd, head of socially responsible investing at Jupiter Asset Management – sponsors of the Big Idea award, makes clear: "The urgency of what is required to combat issues such as climate change has not diminished as a result of the current financial crisis. We need big ideas – and it is at times like ...