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Chart of the Week – May 20, 2024: Largest sustainable investment funds

The Bottom Line: With one exception, the composition of the top ten sustainable investment funds by assets under management remains unchanged so far this year.           Notes of Explanation: # Index fund. Total net assets as of April 30, 2024. Sources: Morningstar Direct; Sustainable Research and Analysis LLC.  Ten largest sustainable mutual […]

Chart of the Week – May 13, 2024: April performance of sustainable funds

The Bottom Line: Sustainable funds posted an average -3.2% in April, while the leading Commodity Funds category added 7.2% and the lagging category dropped 58.9%.        Notes of explanation: Notes of Explanation: Sustainable funds fall into one of 75 fund categories, as determined by Morningstar Direct. Returns are the average returns for each […]

Chart of the Week – May 6, 2024: Global sustainable ETFs

The Bottom Line: Sustainable ETFs listed across the globe in 23 jurisdictions with $US3.9 trillion in assets under management are dominated by 10 management firms.       Notes of explanation: Assets under management denominated in US dollars as of early May 2024. All Other includes Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, HK, New Zealand, […]

Chart of the Week – April 29, 2024

Divestment of stocks and bonds

The Bottom Line: While divestment approaches have an important symbolic meaning and serve as a signaling mechanism, the financial impact on companies is likely limited.      Notes of explanation:  *Indicates no divestment of fossil fuel companies. Source: UB University Business, 2/15/2024, based on a report published by the National Association of College and University […]

Chart of the Week – April 22, 2024

The Bottom Line: Returns from sustainable and conventional bond funds have been disappointing, but investing opportunities are available and improvements may come later this year.      Notes of explanation: Performance of sustainable bond fund categories, 19 in total, listed in order of first quarter 2024 average total returns. Quartile rankings are based on Q1 […]

Chart of the Week – April 15, 2024

The Bottom Line: Natural Resources funds, one of 75 fund categories, posted the fifth best average return in March, but results vary by fund mandate. Notes of explanation: Funds listed in order of total return performance posted in March 2024. For mutual funds with multiple share classes, only the top performing share class is listed. […]

Chart of the Week – April 8, 2024

Sustainable Invest Chart Of The Week

The Bottom Line: Funds with the highest volatilities are typically, but not always, thematic concentrated funds that expose investors to near-to-intermediate term volatility or risks.     Notes of explanation: The chart displays the ten funds with the highest standard deviations of monthly returns over a three-year period along with 12-month total returns to March 31, 2024. […]

Chart of the Week – April 1, 2024

Chart of The Week by Sustainable Invest for Sustainable Investing

The Bottom Line: Only two sustainable fund investing options were launched in March 2024, reflecting a cooling off in sustainable mutual fund and ETF introductions.      Sustainable mutual funds and ETFs launch between January 1, 2023 – March 31, 2024 Notes of explanation: New fund launches exclude listings of new mutual fund share classes. […]

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