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401(k) Plans and Sustainable Investing: Long-Term Companions

Bloomberg Signs Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Last week, Bloomberg L.P., a privately held global information and technology company, announced that the firm, in its capacity as a US corporate retirement plan sponsor, was becoming a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The PRI, which was conceived in 2005 and launched by the […]

Nuveen Launches First of its Kind U.S. Aggregate ESG Bond Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF)

ESG Bond ETF Also Has No Mutual Fund Counterpart in the Sustainable Investing Sphere At the beginning of October, Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC, a unit of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA), announced the launch of NuShares ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NUBD), an index tracking exchange-traded fund that seeks to replicate the […]

JPMorgan Municipal Income Fund (OTBAX)- New Sustainable Product

    Assessment Low Conviction Synopsis As of February 28, 2017, the date of the fund’s updated prospectus, it was noted that this municipal bond fund now invests the majority of its assets in securities whose proceeds provide positive social or environmental benefits, including investments in green bonds. This was not previously the fund’s main […]

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