Latest Launches

Impact firm Newday adds ocean-focused ETF

The fund will donate 5% of its revenues to a nonprofit

San Francisco-based Newday Impact recently launched its first ETF, a fund that invests in companies it says are seeking to restore marine ecosystems.

The Newday Ocean Health ETF launched on June 7. Its top holdings include holding company Austevoll Seafood ASA, Tetra Tech Inc. and Hitachi Zosen Corporation.

The fund “seeks long-term capital appreciation through investments in companies that are diverting ocean-bound plastic waste, supporting sustainable fisheries, controlling ocean acidification caused by CO2 emissions and actively using other strategies to combat ocean pollution and other threats to marine health,” the firm said in its announcement.

The ETF’s holdings fit with UN Sustainable Development Goals, the firm stated.

Those include “hunger, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth, responsible consumption and production, climate action and life below water.”

Newday is donating 5% of the ETF’s net revenue to EarthEcho International, which was founded by Philippe and Alexandra Cousteau, who are grandchildren of Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

Putnam plans five ESG fixed income ETFs

Will be underlying components for Putnam's ESG-focused target-date series

Putnam Investments is bringing five exchange-traded funds to the market that all have a focus on ESG investing.

Three of Putnam’s ETFs will be fixed income strategies built upon the capabilities and experience of Putnam’s internal fixed income team: ESG Core Bond, ESG High Yield and ESG Ultra Short.

The other two, ESG International Equity and ESG Emerging Markets Equity, are quantitative equity strategies that will be sub-advised by Putnam affiliate PanAgora Asset Management.

Putnam will be the sponsor and investment adviser on all five ETFs.

See also: – Green Dream with AB’s Bigley: Innovation in US green bonds

In addition to Putnam’s existing Sustainable Leaders ETF and Sustainable Future ETF, the five new active ETFs will serve as the underlying components of the company’s ESG-focused target-date series, the Putnam Sustainable Retirement Funds.

This new suite of TDFs will be implemented in the coming months through a repositioning of the firm’s existing RetirementReady Funds series.

“We believe in the value and importance of these strategies in building a long-term investment portfolio,” Robert Reynolds, president and CEO of Putnam Investments, said in a statement.

“We have seen growing interest from many corners of the marketplace for ESG investing across a range of asset classes — and are excited to introduce these new fixed income and quantitative equity ETFs to our lineup.”

This story first appeared on InvestmentNews.

Hartford Funds adds sustainable international fund

The fund will use Schroders' sustainability criteria to analyze companies

Hartford Funds has launched a sustainable international equities fund, the company announced Tuesday.

The Hartford Schroders Sustainable International Core Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation and will invest primarily in international and emerging markets equities that fit certain sustainability criteria, the company said in its announcement.

“The investment team aims to construct a diversified portfolio where stock selection is the primary driver of alpha, seeking mispriced opportunities across a multitude of industries and regions,” the company stated. “At the same time, the investment team strives to build a portfolio that has a positive impact on society by investing in companies that they believe have best-in-class stakeholder behaviors.”

Schroders’ sustainability measures will help the investment team understand the social impacts of different companies in the fund’s portfolio, the firm said.

The fund will use the MSCI Al Country World ex USA Index as its performance benchmark.

Managing the fund is Schroders’ Nicholette MacDonald-Brown, who will be supported by regional portfolio managers based in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo, the company noted.

Currently, there are seven other sustainable mutual funds and ETFs available from Hartford Funds.

The company also announced the launch of another product, the Hartford Schroders International Contrarian Value Fund. That fund, which focuses on identifying “out of favor stocks which have low valuations but are considered to have resilient earnings and/or misunderstood balance sheets,” integrates financially material ESG factors “such as climate change, environmental performance, labor standards and corporate governance,” the company stated.

Fidelity adds health-related ESG fund

The active mutual fund uses both proprietary and third-party ESG ratings

Fidelity Investments has launched a health-focused ESG fund, the company announced Tuesday.

Fidelity’s new, actively managed Healthy Future Fund is its 23rd ESG investment option in its line of mutual funds and ETFs. The fund, which comes in retail and adviser share classes, invests thematically in health care, nutrition, mental health, housing and ways to reduce air pollution, the company stated.

It aims to invest at least 80% of its assets in equity securities of companies “around the world whose products, services and/or technology are believed to either extend and/or improve life expectancy, enhance health and wellness in people’s lives or mitigate negative environmental impacts affecting health and wellness.”

Those holdings include businesses with at least half of their revenues coming from disease treatment, access to health care, nutrition, fitness, wearables or clean emissions, the company stated. It also includes those that are in the MSCI World Health & Wellness Select Net MA Index.

“The pandemic has put the importance of overall health and wellness at the forefront of consumer consciousness, and we believe there are many factors that will continue to drive this global trend,” Pam Holding, head of sustainable investing, said in the company’s announcement. “With this new fund, Fidelity offers investors the opportunity to gain exposure to the long-term movement of health and wellness through an actively managed sustainable strategy.”

The fund uses Fidelity’s in-house ESG ratings as well as those from third-party providers.

PGIM launches ESG bond fund

The fund uses a negative screen and an impact ratings methodology

Prudential Financial fund company PGIM Investments on Wednesday announced that it had added an actively managed ESG bond fund to its product line.

The PGIM ESG Short Duration Multi-Sector Bond Fund is the third mutual fund offered by the company. The fund “seeks total return, investing across various fixed income securities and emphasizing issuers with stronger ESG characteristics and practices than traditional multi-sector portfolios,” the company said in an announcement. “The fund normally seeks to maintain an average portfolio duration of three years or less.”

Overseeing the fund are PGIM fixed income portfolio managers Gregory Peters, Robert Tipp, Michael Collins, Richard Piccirillo and Lindsay Rosner.

The fund uses an exclusionary screen as well as PGIM’s impact rating methodology to build a portfolio, according to the company.

KraneShares adds carbon-offset ETF

The product is the first to include the top carbon-offset futures markets into one fund, the firm says

KraneShares launched its latest ETF Thursday, a product that provides coverage of the voluntary carbon market.

The KraneShares Global Carbon Offset Strategy ETF tracks carbon-offset futures contracts, including nature-based global emission offsets and global emission offsets, which trade through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, according to the firm. The ETF will add more offset markets “as they reach scale,” KraneShares said in the announcement.

The ETF is the first in the US “to combine the leading carbon offset futures markets into a single investable fund,” KraneShares CEO Jonathan Krane said in the announcement.

The ETF, which trades under the ticker KSET and charges total fees of 79 basis points, can also invest in carbon credits issued under cap-and-trade regimes, as well as instruments including options, swaps and other ETFs, according to the prospectus.

Climate Finance Partner, or CLIFI, is the ETF’s nondiscretionary subadvisor.

“Voluntary carbon markets are a vital tool in the fight against climate change and are increasingly viewed as a cornerstone in global efforts to achieve mid-century net-zero targets,” CLIFI cofounder Eron Bloomgarden said in the announcement. “Investors can feel confident that the offset credits behind KSET are generated from emission reduction activities that have been third-party verified by leading carbon offset registries.”

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