Fund EcoMarket is a free to use database of information on all regulated, retail, onshore funds that focus on sustainable, responsible, ethical and ESG issues – as well as a number of additional FCA regulated funds and a small number of portfolio service providers. (See ‘Product Type’ filter).
We aim to bring together extensive fund information so that investor aims can be matched to fund options as closely as possible.
Our database is designed to support UK financial services professionals but open to everyone.
We do this because we believe it is important to change how people invest.
We believe everyone should pay careful attention to environmental and social issues when making investment decisions both because it matters what is happening to the planet and because it makes sound financial sense to do so.
You can use Fund EcoMarket in a number of different ways.
You can search by fund name, click on logos to see funds from a specific fund manager – or use one or more filter options to generate a list of funds.
Many people chose to use the (separate) SRI Stylefinder (fact find) questionnaire to find their ‘best fit’ (one, two or three) ‘styles’ of sustainable, responsible and ethical fund .
This can help you to focus in on the options that are most likely to be of interest to your client.
You can then use the additional filters to refine your search.
Once you have generated a list of funds you can tick the options you are most interested in a create a report to save your findings (important for your audit trail). This information should then be matched with other standard financial information available from other information providers.
This site should not be viewed as offering any form of advice. There is a lot of information about investment that we do not offer on this site. We are not regulated and cannot offer advice.
SRI Styles are our own proprietary classifications or labelling system for sustainable, responsible, ethical and ESG funds.
We group funds into ‘SRI Styles’ to make their similarities and differences easier to recognise and understand.
SRI Styles describe the fund options that are available today. They aim to highlight a combination of the different issues funds focus on eg sustainability, environmental, social, ethical, faith and the different approaches different funds apply to these issues – eg themed, tilt, ESG, limited.
By doing this we hope to help financial advisers match client aims to potentially appropriate fund options more easily (and make it easier to see when a fund is likely to be entirely inappropriate from a sustainability/ESG perspective!).
For funds that have supplied us with information we use the information they provide to decide label a fund.
For managers who have not (or not yet) supplied us with information we use online information.
See our SRI Styles Directory for further information.
For simplicity a fund can only be in one SRI Style, however in practice there is lots of crossover between the styles as well as significant variation between funds in each style.
For example:
In most situations we recommend you use additional filters to make fund selection more ‘bespoke’ – better matched to clients’ personal aims.
Yes. Sometimes. SRI Styles can and do change over time because this area is changing all the time.
Our SRI Styles are intended to help guide users. They are our opinion of funds. They should not be seen as advice or any form of recommendation. See our ‘SRI Styles Directory’ for further information on the Styles.
This site is free to use because we believe it is so important that everyone knows about investments that can help address the many often urgent environmental and social challenges we face.
We have however always firmly believed that thinking about the planet, and other people, should be part of ‘normal business’ – not niche or something charities do – so we too are a business (running since 2010).
As such we do need to make money. We do this with the support of fund managers who we refer to as our ‘partners’.
Fund partners have a higher profile on our website, but are otherwise treated identically to any other investment company or fund on the site. (Our core aim is for the site to be as comprehensive, up to date and useful as it can be.)
You will see fund partner logos displayed. Their funds are also listed first (in a randomised order).
We also supply fund data feeds to some third parties.
We not collect or share any individual user data.
Most of the information we present comes direct from fund managers, but not all of it. We gather basic information – like fund names – from a range of sources.
We classify funds into ‘SRI Styles’ either from information on fund manager websites or, if available, from information the fund manager has supplied to us.
All of the detailed strategy information – such as the specific issues funds consider and how they deal with issues (issues, approaches, policy criteria, stewardship etc), as well as explanatory text and URL links, are all supplied directly by fund management companies.
We believe using information that comes directly from fund managers is important as it is the managers that set the rules (or policies) within which the manager operates. As a result they know more about their funds than anyone else.
We ask fund managers to review and update this information annually.
If a fund manager is not willing to supply information we will cut and paste a little relevant information from their website and put a link to their site – if available.
We will not complete detailed fund filter information on their behalf.
If your client’s reason for being interested in this area is to help shape a more sustainable future you need to be aware that the issues we face are pretty complex and there is a lot we need to do.
In particular investors need to both direct more money towards companies that are leading and enabling change to happen (eg solutions companies, like renewable energy firms) and we also need to encourage other – perhaps more mixed or not be so great companies to up their game. We call that ‘transitioning’ to higher standards (eg aiming for net zero).
Different funds balance there two key dynamics differently. You need to look at both the ‘issues’ and ‘approaches’ funds offer – as responsible ownership (stewardship) strategies to understand who is doing what.
Funds that use the word ‘impact’ tend to be more focused on solutions companies.
Funds that invest more widely – and in some cases in more controversial companies – tend to focus more on responsible ownership, often in collaboration with other investors.
We need both to succeed if we are to both reduce emissions and keep the lights on (and beyond.)
Note. Please be aware we present information as supplied by fund managers. We do not stand as judge and jury. Also keep in mind that most listed companies are owned by many different investors so it can be hard to tell what drives change. However, we hope it is clear who is ‘trying’ – from the information we collect.
Yes. Each of the filter options on Fund EcoMarket has hover over text that explains what we mean by the words we use.
Also see ‘About SRI /ESG’ pages.
We list all funds that refer to themselves as having sustainable, responsible, ESG or ethical strategies because independent financial advisers are required by law to research the ‘whole market’ before recommending funds – although their processes vary.
This can make research somewhat arduous but it is important because client needs – and fund strategies – vary greatly. Some want to jump in with both feet – others only want to dip a toe in the water.
We group funds into ‘SRI Styles’ to simplify this a little – as this helps make major strategy differences easier to spot – although using these classifications is optional.
Sorry, no. We are not regulated, authorised or resourced to offer advice to individual investors.
You are however welcome to use our ‘Find an Adviser’ service if you would like advice, or you can explore the 200 or so filter options to see what different funds offer.
‘Greenwash’, where environmental credentials are overstated for commercial gain, is a real issue in many industries – including investment.
It matters because clients risk investing in funds that do not do what they want, and money risk being directed towards the wrong companies (or other assets).
The first step towards addressing (and stamping out) greenwash is to encourage greater openness and transparency – which is what we have been working on for the last 12 years.
By gathering together – and making publicly available – information on all sustainable, responsible, ethical, ESG (etc) fund strategies we aim to equip intermediaries with the information they need to decide whether or not a fund suits a particular client’s opinions.
We ask all fund managers to ensure the information they supply to us is correct and can be evidenced. We also encourage them to give us links to their own websites so that Fund EcoMarket users can read further.
This area faces a challenge however. We all have different opinions. And although there are many initiatives working on this we do not all agree on what is ‘sustainable’ – or indeed what is and is not important.
The many filter options we offer on Fund EcoMarket aim to address this so that users can make up their own minds as to whether or not a fund suits their personal opinions and their definition of ‘sustainable’ (or responsible, ethical etc).
This site is designed to help investment professionals, however in line with our passion to help change the way people invest we make all of our information publicly available. We are not regulated or authorised and as such can not and will not speak directly with individual investors. We offer a ‘Find an Adviser’ service to help people find help.
Please go to the ‘Event’ calendar which you can access from the top tab on our home page.