ACA Group (ACA) has announced that their ESG Data & Analytics solution has certified an ETF as carbon neutral under its plant-based innovation certification.
VegTech Invest’s Plant-based Innovation & Climate ETF, EATV (NYSE: EATV), is the first ETF that ACA has certified as carbon neutral based on the positive impact of replacing animal products with plant-based innovation solutions for a more resource-efficient and less damaging food and materials supply system.
ACA’s carbon neutral certification is designed for mutual funds, ETFs, separately managed accounts (SMAs), portfolios, and other investment products to help meet growing market demand for assessments of innovations that are intended to reduce emissions and support ESG and impact goals.
As part of the certification to identify emissions reduction potential, ACA reviewed a variety of lifecycle analyses (assessments of the carbon footprint of a product over its entire “lifecycle”) from the University of Michigan, Boston Consulting Group, and others. These analyses quantify the typical emissions reduction associated with converting from beef to plant-based meat, implementing green vertical farming, investing in plant-based products and innovations, and making other transitions to a plant-based industry.
ACA compared the estimated carbon footprint of the holdings in EATV (the Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions that EATV is responsible for through its investment in each holding) with the expected impact of emissions that are avoided for each holding. Based on this analysis, ACA determined that the aggregate carbon avoidance potential of all EATV holdings was greater than the estimated carbon footprint – i.e., an investment in EATV results in a net reduction of carbon when considering the expected emissions avoided.
“New investment approaches such as EATV are seeking groundbreaking solutions that address the global food and material supply system that work toward stabilising food insecurity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” says Luke Wilcox, partner at ACA Group and founder of Ethos ESG. “We are proud to highlight ACA’s expanded offerings in certifying the fund as carbon neutral.”
“Our factory-animal food supply system causes tremendous damage to the planet through deforestation and its emissions, most notably producing about one third of the world’s methane according to the EPA,” says Elysabeth Alfano, CEO of VegTech Invest. “It also uses a disproportionate amount of critical resources, such as land and water, needed for a growing global population. We won’t sufficiently impact climate change in the short time needed if we don’t innovate for solutions to animal factories. That’s why we created EATV. We want to drive capital to the companies who are innovating to replace animal products for sustainable consumption and allow investors to partake in the megatrend of creating an efficient, global food supply system.”
