Exchange-traded funds became popular as a low-cost way for investors to track standard indexes and gain exposure to entire sectors or geographies. A new batch of ETFs are tracking positive environmental, social and governance, or ESG, factors as signals for long-term outperformance.
Now, SerenityShares, launched last year, has listed its IMPACT ETF (ticker: ICAN) to give investors access to U.S.-listed companies that actively “seek to improve societal, social, and environmental concerns.”
The fund’s 20 themes include environmental stewardship, access to local healthcare, renewable energy, clean water, eldercare, education, community building and access to libraries. “A growing class of investors wants to have an impact fund among their suite of investment options,” said SerenityShares’ Kathleen Neumann.
Caveat: the impact of individual investments in publicly-traded companies is limited; ownership is spread across many investors.
This post originally appeared in ImpactAlpha’s daily newsletter. Get The Brief.
