by Julia Gro, uro on Sunday
Dhe sustained soaring of energy stocks makes some investors who have opted for sustainable investments fickle. Greenwashing allegations, as recently made by DWS, are fueling skepticism. And now the EU Parliament has also agreed to classify investments in natural gas and nuclear power as sustainable under certain conditions – a view not shared by many investors.
In such phases of uncertainty, it pays to focus on long-term developments. The fact is: companies that are sustainable and that contribute to environmental and climate protection have seldom had a better starting position for their business than they currently have. The orientation is politically desired and will be generously promoted in certain segments in the coming years. The investment community also pays a great deal of attention to such companies, and their commitment is rewarded.
When it comes to performance, good sustainability funds don’t need to hide, whether they focus on the ecology and environmental protection sector or apply strict sustainability standards to broadly diversified equity investments. Although this does not protect them from losses at the moment, it shows that investors can do well in the long term even with the limited investment universe.
Orientation when selecting a fund
When looking for funds with a good risk-return ratio and a portfolio that is sustainable, especially in terms of environmental and climate issues, the fund ratings of Finanz Verlag offer orientation. The FondsNote, which we calculate monthly together with the analysis company FondsConsult, looks at the return and fluctuations in value of a portfolio over four years, always in comparison with funds from the same investment category. There are also qualitative criteria such as continuity of management.
The eco-rating, on the other hand, assesses the specific investments in an equity fund’s portfolio according to ten environmental, social and climate protection criteria. There are more points for companies with an environmental orientation or activities in the field of renewable energies, as well as for low CO2-Emissions. The rating falls when investments are made in corporations that do business with fossil fuels, nuclear power or armaments. If the fund contains shares in companies that are on the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund’s exclusion list due to coal mining or coal-fired power generation, the portfolio automatically receives the worst eco-rating “E”. Mountain-View Data recalculates the eco-rating for Finanz Verlag every quarter.
repeat tter at the top
From the current evaluation of the Eco-Ratings, we present the front runners from the categories global equity funds and global equity funds ecology in the table. Portfolios that have been on the market for less than twelve months or have a volume of less than EUR 20 million were not taken into account.
All of the top funds mentioned are “repeaters”, ie they have already achieved the grade “A” in earlier eco-rating evaluations. That speaks for consistency in the investment strategy. In particular, the Erste Stock Environment and the Green Effects NAI-Werte Fonds have been attracting attention for a long time thanks to their good performance and constant “A” ratings.
Of the First Floor Environment the Austrian Erste Asset Management is a so-called feeder fund for the Erste WWF Stock Environment, in which German investors can no longer invest directly. But that doesn’t matter, the fees are identical at 1.80 percent and so is the portfolio in the end. The Austrians rely heavily on renewable energies and energy efficiency (a total of almost 60 percent of the portfolio). The two US solar companies Sunrun and Sunnova are the most heavily weighted. Investors who focus on renewables have to be able to withstand major fluctuations. Since the beginning of the year, the Stock Environment is down 18 percent.
Behind the GreenEffects NAI Value Fund There is an unusual construction here: You can only bet on the 30 stocks that are included in the natural stock index of the Securvita health insurance fund. These are industry pioneers who “contribute to ecologically and socially sustainable solutions to central human problems”. Extensive exclusion criteria apply; In 2021, for example, four companies were exchanged. The health insurance company Molina, the medical technology group Smith & Nephew and the infrastructure specialist Acciona are currently the most heavily weighted. Fees are low at 1.12 percent and volatility is below average.
structural growth
the Mainfirst-Portfolios score in the Eco-Rating with the exclusion of weapons manufacturing as well as coal and nuclear energy. The strategy, which focuses on structurally growing topics, also helps with the evaluation. example digitalization: Here, companies often have a low CO2emissions and make positive contributions to environmental protection, for example by making processes more efficient. In contrast to the Unconstrained, the Global Equities works with hedging strategies.
With the Faro’s Listed Real Assets A fund for real estate and infrastructure stocks (see also page 20), which was only launched in 2020, also made it into the top rankings. The also still young Heptagon Future Trends relies on long-term trend topics.
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