Having issued
two ETFs for women and minorities back in April
, Impact Shares' newest addition is the UN-based ETF, Impact Shares Sustainable Development Goals Global Equity ETF (SDGA) which was launched yesterday. SDGA tracks the Morningstar Societal Development Index with an expense ratio of 0.76%.
The index's selection criteria only approves companies that have environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) indicators and alignment with the sustainable development goals (SDG), excluding any companies that are involved in unacceptable trading e.g. weapons. The SDG is the global plan of action to reduce poverty and improve economic development around the world.
UN's capital development fund (UNCDF), Impact Shares and Morningstar will be working alongside Sustainalytics to screen and score all potential stocks. The ESG score is given to each potential component and leads to the company being excluded if the score is too low. Those within the top 200 scores are then selected for the index and to maximise exposure, the stocks at the higher end of the ranking are weighted accordingly.
The index must be comprised of companies from at least three developed or emerging markets including the US which is mandatory. At least 40 per cent of the index must be represented by non-US stocks.
All management fees will be donated to the UN's capital development fund (UNCDF) which will be put towards the efforts in improving the 47 least developed countries (LDC).
