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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.   […]

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 […]

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