Sustainable ETFs: Not all that popular with investors

Article Excerpt

About 90 Sustainable Investment ETFs trade on U.S. exchanges, and they manage $16.9 billion (less than 1% of total ETF assets) in investor assets. On average, investors pay a reasonable 0.41% MER. Apart from publicly listed stocks, some Sustainable ETFs also expose you to fixed income instruments. The largest of these funds is the iShares ESG MSCI USA Leaders ETF (New York symbol SUSL), with $1.6 billion in assets. In the last year, investors in the Invesco Solar ETF (New York symbol TAN) saw the highest return—53.0%. There are about 20 Canadian stock and fixed-income Sustainable Investment ETFs for you to choose from. They hold $600 million in total assets (also less than 1% of total ETF assets). The two largest in Canada are the iShares Jantzi Social Index ETF (Toronto symbol XEN), with assets of $162 million, and the RBC Vision Women’s Leadership MSCI Canada ETF (Toronto symbol RLDR); investors have $159 million in that fund. Overall, investor interest in Sustainability ETFs remains very limited. Canadian mutual funds and pooled funds have, however, done a..