How to spot a green investment fund

As we're approaching the end of another hot summer, you might be wondering if your money is contributing to the climate crisis.

To help you pick such funds, and avoid greenwashing, in July 2024 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) launched 'sustainability disclosure labels', which funds could adopt if they met certain criteria.

Over a year on, there are 145 funds using or planning to use such labels. We look into what they invest in and who offers them.

Please note: the content contained in this article is for information purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice.

What are sustainability disclosure labels?

The labels are designed to give investors clear and simple information on what that goal is and the approach to achieving it.

There are currently four available labels:

Sustainability Impact:Sustainability Mixed Goals:Sustainability Focus:Sustainability Improvers:

The FCA’s criteria for adopting a label includes a requirement that usually at least 70% of the product’s assets must be invested in accordance with the chosen sustainability objective.

Funds may only use one label, however there is no requirement for providers to seek prior approval from the FCA before applying a label. Instead, the watchdog will review, and may challenge applications that don’t meet the relevant criteria.

Find out more: undefined

Which funds are using labels?

The true number could be higher: the FCA doesn’t currently have a published list of funds using a label, but Morningstar Direct has been tracking the ones that have made public declarations of their use.

So far 93 of the 145 funds have made a public disclosure according to Morningstar, a list of which can be found in the below table.

Fund Name	Broad Category Group	Focus Labelled	Impact Labelled	Improvers Labelled	Mixed Goals Labelled
abrdn Global Sustainable Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
abrdn UK Sustainable Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Aegon Sustainable Diversified Growth Fund	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
Aegon Sustainable Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
ARC TIME Social Impact Property Fund	Property	No	Yes	No	No
AXA Carbon Transition Global Short Duration Bond Fund	Fixed Income	No	No	Yes	No
AXA Carbon Transition Sterling Buy and Maintain Credit Fund	Fixed Income	No	No	Yes	No
AXA Global Sustainable Managed Fund	Allocation	No	No	Yes	No
AXA Green Short Duration Bond Fund	Fixed Income	No	Yes	No	No
AXA People & Planet Equity Fund	Equity	No	Yes	No	No
AXA UK Sustainable Equity Fund	Equity	No	No	Yes	No
Baillie Gifford Positive Change Fund	Equity	No	Yes	No	No
Baillie Gifford Sustainable Growth Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Brown to Green Materials Fund	Equity	No	No	Yes	No
CT Responsible Global Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
CT Sustainable Global Equity Income Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
CT Sustainable Opportunities Global Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
CT Sustainable Universal MAP Adventurous	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
CT Sustainable Universal MAP Balanced	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
CT Sustainable Universal MAP Cautious	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
CT Sustainable Universal MAP Defensive	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
CT Sustainable Universal MAP Growth	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
CT UK Sustainable Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Edentree Global Impact Bond Fund	Fixed Income	No	Yes	No	No
Edentree Global Sustainable Government Bond Fund	Fixed Income	Yes	No	No	No
Edentree Green Future Fund	Equity	No	Yes	No	No
EdenTree Green Infrastructure Fund	Equity	No	Yes	No	No
Fidelity Sustainable European Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Fidelity Sustainable Global Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Fidelity Sustainable Multi Asset Balanced Fund	Allocation	No	No	No	Yes
Fidelity Sustainable Multi Asset Conservative Fund	Allocation	No	No	No	Yes
Fidelity Sustainable Multi Asset Growth Fund	Allocation	No	No	No	Yes
Fidelity Sustainable UK Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
FP Foresight Global Real Infrastructure Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
FP Foresight Sustainable Future Themes Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
FP Foresight Sustainable Real Estate Securities Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
FP Foresight UK Infrastructure Income Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
FP WHEB Sustainability Impact Fund	Equity	No	Yes	No	No
Janus Henderson Global Sustainable Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Janus Henderson Sustainable Future Technologies Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Janus Henderson US Sustainable Equity	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Jupiter Ecology	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Jupiter Responsible Income Fund	Equity	No	No	Yes	No
Liontrust Sustainable Future Cautious Managed Fund	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
Liontrust Sustainable Future Corporate Bond Fund	Fixed Income	Yes	No	No	No
Liontrust Sustainable Future Defensive Managed Fund	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
Liontrust Sustainable Future European Growth Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Liontrust Sustainable Future Global Growth Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Liontrust Sustainable Future Managed Fund	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
Liontrust Sustainable Future Managed Growth Fund	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
Liontrust Sustainable Future Monthly Income Bond Fund	Fixed Income	Yes	No	No	No
Liontrust Sustainable Future UK Growth Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Liontrust UK Ethical Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
M&G European Sustain Paris Aligned Fund	Equity	No	No	Yes	No
M&G Global Sustain Paris Aligned Fund	Equity	No	No	Yes	No
M&G Positive Impact Fund	Equity	No	Yes	No	No
M&G UK Sustain Paris Aligned Fund	Equity	No	No	Yes	No
Ninety One Global Environment Fund	Equity	No	Yes	No	No
Ninety One Global Sustainable Equity Fund	Equity	No	Yes	No	No
Premier Miton Global Sustainable Growth	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Premier Miton Global Sustainable Optimum Income	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Rathbone Greenbank Global Sustainability Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Rathbone Greenbank Global Sustainable Bond Fund	Fixed Income	Yes	No	No	No
Regnan Global Equity Impact Solutions	Equity	No	Yes	No	No
Regnan Sustainable Water and Waste Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Royal London Global Sustainable Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Royal London Sustainable Corporate Bond Trust	Fixed Income	Yes	No	No	No
Royal London Sustainable Diversified Trust	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
Royal London Sustainable Growth Fund	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
Royal London Sustainable Leaders Trust	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Royal London Sustainable Managed Growth Trust	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
Royal London Sustainable Short Duration Corporate Bond Fund	Fixed Income	Yes	No	No	No
Royal London Sustainable World Trust	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
Schroder European Climate Transition Fund	Equity	No	No	Yes	No
Schroder Global Alternative Energy Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Schroder Global Cities Real Estate Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Schroder Global Sustainable Food and Water Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Schroder Global Sustainable Growth Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Schroder Global Sustainable Value Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Schroder Sustainable Bond Fund	Fixed Income	Yes	No	No	No
Schroder Sustainable Future Multi-Asset Fund	Allocation	No	No	No	Yes
Schroder Sustainable Multi-Factor Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
Schroder Sustainable UK Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
SJP Sustainable & Responsible Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
SUTL Cazenove Charity Sustainable Multi-Asset Fund	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
SUTL Cazenove Sustainable Balanced Fund	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
SUTL Cazenove Sustainable Growth Fund	Allocation	Yes	No	No	No
SVS AllianceBernstein Sustainable Global Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
SVS AllianceBernstein Sustainable US Equity Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
T. Rowe Price Funds OEIC Global Impact Credit Fund	Fixed Income	No	Yes	No	No
T. Rowe Price Funds OEIC Global Impact Equity Fund	Equity	No	Yes	No	No
WS Guinness Sustainable Energy Fund	Equity	Yes	No	No	No
WS Montanaro Funds - WS Montanaro Better World Fund	Equity	No	Yes	No	No

All labelled funds in this list are actively managed, where a fund manager picks what to invest in.

The most popular label adopted by funds is the Sustainable Focus label, 64 of the 93 disclosed funds. 

The other labels have proven much less popular, with only 15 adopting Sustainable Impact, 10 Sustainable Improvers and four Sustainable Mixed Goals.

Louisa Chender, sustainable financial policy technical specialist at the FCA, has stated that several funds have changed their names and descriptions to comply with the naming and marketing rules, regardless of whether a label has been adopted or not.

What do funds with sustainable labels invest in?

The largest fund by asset value to have adopted a label is Royal London Sustainable Diversified Trust, which manages £3.5bn in assets and has the Focus label, according to Morningstar. 

The trust is a mixed allocation fund, with a stated aim of investing in companies that make a positive contribution to one or more 'sustainability themes' (clean, healthy, safe, inclusive), through their products or services. Top holdings include Standard Chartered, Microsoft and Broadcom.

The largest equity fund is Royal London Sustainable Leaders Trust, which manages £2.8bn in assets and has the Focus label. 

Similar to the Royal London Diversified Trust, it focuses on companies with a positive contribution to sustainability themes. Top holdings include Standard Chartered, RELX and Prudential.

The largest fixed income fund is Liontrust Sustainable Future Monthly Income Bond Fund, which manages £508.5m in assets and has the Focus label. 

It has a stated aim of producing monthly income payments together with capital growth through investment in sustainable securities. Top holdings include UK government bonds, NatWest and BNP Paribas.

The oldest fund to have adopted a label is the M&G Global Sustain Paris Aligned Fund, dating all the way back to 1967, whose currently stated aim is to invest at least 70% of the fund into companies that contribute towards the Paris Agreement climate change goal.

Schroders has adopted the most labels according to Morningstar, applying them to 13 of their funds. They are followed by Liontrust (10), Columbia Threadneedle (9) and Royal London (8).

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Awareness remains low

In total, these 93 funds with sustainable labels manage well over £41bn in assets, yet awareness of the labels remains low. 

Just half (52%) of investors are currently aware of them according to a survey conducted by The Investment Association and The Wisdom Council.

However, nearly all (94%) said they would find them helpful. Plus, 86% of financial advisers said they were aware of the labels, and 77% are confident they understand enough about the labels to choose funds appropriate for their clients’ sustainable preferences.

According to the FCA’s policy statement: ‘Our aim with the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and investment labels regime is simple – financial products that are marketed as sustainable should do as they claim and have the evidence to back it up.

‘The regime will support consumers in navigating their investments with trust that the products they are buying do as they say they will.’

source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/how-to-spot-a-green-investment-fund-ay8qR2T7Etyj