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Chart of the Week – July 15 2024: June performance of sustainable mutual funds vs. ETFs

Chart of the week July 2024

The Bottom Line:  Comparisons between sustainable mutual funds and ETFs have to account for the variations in composition of the two investment company types.  Notes of explanation: Chart displays arithmetic average performance of the five best and worst performing sustainable mutual fund and ETF investment categories as of June 2024 and number of funds that […]

Chart of the Week – July 8, 2024: Focused sustainable MMKT funds are disappearing while sustainable MMKT funds expand

The Bottom Line:  Focused sustainable money market fund assets are disappearing while non-focused sustainable money market funds are expanding along with conventional money fund assets. Notes of explanation:  Focused sustainable money market fund assets include the assets of funds that have been liquidated between 12/21 and 6/24.  Sources:  Morningstar Direct; Sustainable Research and Analysis LLC. […]

Chart of the Week – July 1, 2024: Highest yielding sustainable investment funds

The Bottom Line:  The top yielding sustainable investment funds, mutual funds and ETFs, recorded an average 12-month yield of 9.3% at the end of May. Notes of Explanation: Notes of explanation: Funds with multiple share classes are only listed once based on the highest yielding share class as of May 31, 2024. Sources: Morningstar Direct; […]

Chart of the Week – June 24, 2024: Sustainable mutual funds dominated by institutional share classes

sustainable investing

The Bottom Line:  Institutional share classes with minimum investments of $100,000 or mor account for over 50% of assets attributable to focused sustainable mutual funds.   Notes of Explanation: Size=total net assets by share class as of May 31, 2024. Sources: Morningstar Direct; Sustainable Research and Analysis LLC.   Focused sustainable mutual funds are dominated by institutional investors […]

Chart of the Week – June 17, 2024: Municipal National Intermediate funds end May in the red

Sustainable Social Media

The Bottom Line:  The Municipal National Intermediate funds category, which offers investors a core focused sustainable municipal funds holding option, posts negative results in May.     Notes of Explanation:  For each mutual fund with multiple share classes, only the best performing share class is displayed.  May performance results arrayed in descending order.  Results over 3-year […]

Chart of the Week – June 10, 2024: Limited supply of worthy sustainable small-cap funds

The Bottom Line:  A limited number of worthy focused sustainable small-cap blended investment funds is available to various investors once screened against five key characteristics. Notes of Explanation:  Funds arrayed in descending order based on May 2024 total return performance results. Small cap blended funds consist of non-thematic small cap funds defined by their prospectus. * […]

Chart of the Week – June 3, 2024: Drought in sustainable investment fund formations

The Bottom Line:  The drought in sustainable investment fund launches continued through May, during which there were no new listings of mutual funds or ETFs.         Notes of Explanation: Number of mutual fund launches excludes share class introductions. Morningstar Direct; Sustainable Research and Analysis LLC.   Observations:   The drought in focused sustainable investment fund […]

Chart of the Week – May 27, 2024: Smallest sustainable funds

sustainable invest

The Bottom Line: Small sustainable fund firms may introduce unique or innovative investment opportunities, but investors should exercise caution when considering making investments in them.         Notes of Explanation: Fund firms listed in descending order based on total net assets as of April 30, 2024. Sources: Morningstar Direct; Sustainable Research and Analysis LLC.   […]

Research

Research and analysis to keep sustainable investors up to-date on a broad range of topics that include trends and developments in sustainable investing and sustainable finance, regulatory updates, performance results and considerations, investing through index funds and actively managed portfolios, asset allocation updates, expenses, ESG ratings and data, company and product news, green, social and sustainable bonds, green bond funds as well as reporting and disclosure practices, to name just a few.

A continuously updated Funds Directory is also available to investors.  This is intended to become a comprehensive listing of sustainable mutual funds, ETFs and other investment products along with a description of their sustainable investing approaches as set out in fund prospectuses and related regulatory filings.

Getting started

Many questions have surfaced in recent years regarding sustainable and ESG investing.  Here, investors and financial intermediaries will find materials that describe the various approaches to sustainable investing and their implementation.  While sustainable investing approaches vary and they have thus far defied universally accepted definitions, many practitioners agree that they fall into the following broad categories:  Values-based investing, investing via exclusions, impact investing, thematic investments and ESG integration.  In conjunction with each of these approaches, investors may also adopt various issuer engagement procedures and proxy voting practices.  That said, sustainable investing approaches will continue to evolve.

In addition to periodic updates regarding sustainable investing and how this form of investing is evolving, investors and financial intermediaries interested in implementing a sustainable investing approach will also find source materials that cover basic investing themes as well as asset allocation tactics.

Inesting ideas

Thoughts and ideas targeting sustainable investing strategies executed through various registered and non-registered sustainable investment funds and products such as mutual funds, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs), closed-end funds, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Unit Investment Trusts (UITs). Coverage extends to investment management firms as well as fund groups. 

Independent source for sustainable investment management company research, analysis, opinions and sustainable fund disclosure assessments