Saturna Capital and HANetf have today announced the launch of an actively managed, sustainable ETF, the Saturna Sustainable ESG Equity HANzero UCITS ETF (SESG) ‘SESG’. The ETF will launch via the HANetf platform and will list on the London Stock Exchange in early July.
Saturna Capital and HANetf have today announced the launch of an actively manged, sustainable ETF, the Saturna Sustainable ESG Equity HANzero UCITS ETF (SESG) ‘SESG’. The ETF will launch via the HANetf platform and will list on the London Stock Exchange in early July.
SESG will be the second ETF in Europe and the second on the HANetf platform to incorporate carbon offsetting, in order to give environmentally conscious investors the opportunity to target capital growth with the reassurance that any carbon emissions linked to their investment will be offset. HANetf’s carbon offsetting brand is known as ‘HANzero’ and will work in conjunction with carbon offset specialists, South Pole, to directly neutralise the carbon emissions of their investments through projects such as Topaiyo Forest Conservation in Papua New Guinea and the Musi River Hydro Plant in Sumatra, Indonesia. The SESG ETF is classified as Article 8 under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).
The SESG sustainable ETF is actively managed by Saturna Capital, global asset managers with over 30 years’ experience in socially responsible investing and with over USD5billion assets under management. The ETF will follow the same investment strategy as Saturna’s US-based sustainable equity mutual fund that launched in 2015 and is run by the same managers, Jane Carten, MBA and Scott Klimo, CFA, and has a 5-globe rating from Morningstar.
The Saturna philosophy and process aims to generate consistent and sustainable market-beating returns by seeking companies that demonstrate sustainable financial characteristics such as management strength, sustainable and growing cash flows, low debt, and strong balance sheets.
The fund positively screens for ESG factors such as companies demonstrating excellent corporate governance, a commitment to reducing environmental impact in the areas of carbon emissions, water and waste and positive social characteristics. Negative screening excludes companies engaged in higher ESG risk businesses (eg no alcohol, weapons, gambling or fossil fuel extraction). The fund invests globally and is benchmark agnostic in terms of geographic and industry allocations creating a globally diversified fund.
Jane Carten, CEO of Saturna Capital says: “Saturna Capital has managed socially responsible investments via its US-based family of Shariah-compliant funds since the firm’s founding in 1989. 30 plus years of experience in socially responsible investing led us to launch the Saturna Sustainable Funds in 2015, with a specific commitment to ESG investing and we are delighted to bring the Saturna Sustainable ESG Equity HANzero UCITS ETF (ticker: SESG) as an active ETF to Europe.
“Saturna Capital believes that companies proactively managing business risks relating to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues make better contributions to the global economy and are more resilient. Saturna has a proprietary ESG scoring model which uses a combination of negative and positive screening, along with financial analysis and an emphasis on low debt, to outperform peers on a variety of ESG factors. We believe that companies proactively managing business risks related to ESG issues are more resilient and make better contributions to portfolios designed for patient investors.”
Hector McNeil, Co-CEO of HANetf says: “Active ETF assets are currently small given the size of the overall industry, but growth is strong. ETFGI recently reported that assets invested across active EFTs and ETPs had reached a record USD329 billion by the end of Q1 this year.
“The well-recognised advantages of ETFs – intra-day trading, shortability, lendability, having an ETF portfolio held in one venue, portability of positions between trading venues, low entry costs and diversification – are becoming more prevalent. This gives investors the option to gain exposure to the same active investment strategies they already own via an ETF wrapper. It’s time to bring these benefits to the active management space, creating more choice and more opportunity for both institutional and retail investors.”
Through the HANzero programme, investors of this fund will be directly neutralising the carbon emissions of their investments through projects such as Topaiyo Forest Conservation in Papua New Guinea and the Musi River Hydro Plant in Sumatra, Indonesia, each of which contributes towards a range of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
