Some 14 percent of 1,000 active investors polled by the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) said climate change would definitely affect their investment decisions and 48 percent said it might do.

Annabel Brodie-Smith, communications director at the AIC, said: "With 2007 predicted to be the warmest year ever, it's obvious that global warming has become an issue for active investors."

The research, also undertaken among 2,000 members of the general public, found that the public's biggest financial concern is another interest rate rise (19 percent), whereas active investors' greatest worry is a stock market crash (36 percent).

Some 71 percent of active investors plan to use their individual savings account (ISA) allowance this year, compared to 31 percent of the general public, the studies found.