Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has launched the L&G Clean Energy UCITS ETF, which provides investors with exposure to the innovation and structural opportunities associated with the growing clean energy ecosystem. The strategy is listed on the London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Boerse, Borsa Italiana and the Swiss Exchange (SIX), and is available to UK and European intermediary and retail investors.
The L&G Clean Energy ETF expands LGIM’s thematic exchange traded fund (ETF) range, and is designed to invest in companies that are at the forefront of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7, which aims to substantially increase the provision of affordable and clean energy by 2030.
Using a dynamic, actively designed investment strategy that leverages real-time data on more than 120,000 power-related tenders and contracts worldwide, the ETF delivers a specialised portfolio of companies across the clean energy value chain, providing a viable, sustainable alternative to the traditional, fossil fuel-dominated energy sector.
The ETF benefits from the unrivalled expertise of GlobalData, a provider of cutting-edge business information and research on the global power industry. GlobalData’s specialist energy team cover the entire spectrum of the power value-chain from producers, suppliers and manufacturers all the way through to insights and trends across the globe for all power generation technologies.
Leveraging GlobalData’s proprietary datasets and active research, the L&G Clean Energy ETF will utilise the Solactive Clean Energy Index NTR (the underlying index) to capture the entire value-chain of the clean energy theme.
The ETF will be rebalanced twice a year based on the latest active research to maintain diversification and stay responsive to new entrants and market trends across the global clean energy market, including component suppliers, wind and solar original equipment manufacturers, and power producers across solar, wind, biopower, hydro, ocean power, and geothermal technologies.
Howie Li, Head of ETFs at LGIM, says: “A global consensus on climate change has taken shape in just a few years, as wildfires have devastated entire regions, millions have taken to the streets to demand action, and COVID-19 has underscored the importance of averting looming threats before it is too late.
“In this context, we believe the market for clean energy is poised for secular long-term growth. We are delighted to have created this product to offer investors cost-effective exposure to a unique and diverse basket of stocks that are integral to the world’s growing embrace of cleaner energy.”
James Crossley, Head of UK Retail Sales at LGIM, adds: “Climate Change has become a key topic for our UK clients who are asking us to invest in products that have the lowest possible carbon-footprint. By bringing our Clean Energy ETF to market, we are able to meet this demand and bolster LGIM’s leading ESG product offering. This will give investors access to those companies at the forefront of developments within the renewable energy sector, which is key to the energy transition needed to meet the Paris Climate Change agreement targets of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”
The launch is the latest addition to LGIM’s existing thematic range of eight specialist funds, which include the USD1.86 billion L&G Cyber Security UCITS ETF and USD1 billion L&G ROBO Global Robotics and Automation UCITS ETF. The team hopes to build on recent positive performance, with seven out of eight thematic strategies outperforming the MSCI World Index since the beginning of the year, on average by more than 20 per cent year-to-date.
