French asset managers swept the board among the top 10 climate-friendly equity funds at the CDP Europe Awards in Brussels on Tuesday.
Seven out of the top 10 funds showing outstanding climate performance were from French fund groups.
The ranking is based on data from Climetrics, a tool developed by CDP and ISS-climate that measures the climate performance of a fund’s stocks, its asset manager’s governance of climate issues and its investment policy.
The top 10 actively managed funds were chosen from hundreds of funds in the European equity category based on their underlying Climetrics score. The winning funds stood out as generally investing in European companies which are well aligned with the transition to a low-carbon economy.
BNP and Candriam boosted
Asset managers BNP Paribas, Candriam and Mirova each have two funds among the 10 receiving a Climetrics Fund Award.
Analysis of the top 10 company holdings for each of the award-winning funds shows that almost half of the funds’ top holdings (46%) were scored A by CDP, with almost three quarters (73%) receiving either an A or B score.
CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) is a UK-based organisation supports companies and cities to disclose the environmental impact of major corporations. It holds the most comprehensive collection of self-reported environmental data in the world, with 7,000 companies disclosing in 2018.
Climetrics rates more than 4,500 European funds every month representing about €3trn (£2.6trn) in fund investments.
Nico Fettes, head of Climetrics at CDP, said: “Greater transparency in the fund industry is important for helping to move capital towards sustainable investments and to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
ISS ESG is the responsible investment arm of Institutional Shareholder Services, a provider of environmental, social, and governance solutions for asset managers.
Maximilian Horster, head of ISS-climate, added: “Policy makers, civil society, and investors are collectively asking for more climate transparency of investment funds. The Climetrics rating assesses and awards funds that invest in companies that have made tangible commitments to align their business models with targets set forth under the Paris Accords.”
