First published in late-December by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, the list of ESG-approved funds includes products that meet new ESG disclosure requirements aimed at countering greenwashing. At the time, there were 21 products listed on the regulator’s website.
These disclosure requirements include the fund’s key investment focus, ESG analysis and evaluation methodologies and what the firm believes to be relevant “green” or ESG criteria. The requirements were set out by the regulator in April last year.
“Although most funds [evaluated] have named the green or ESG factors in their investment objective or strategy, a majority of these funds do not specifically disclose how the management companies incorporate such green or ESG factors in their investment selection process,” the SFC said at the time.
The list now includes nine more mutual funds that comply with the new regulations, according to SFC’s website, which was updated in late-March.
Of the nine products, six are managed by Pictet Asset Management, making it the firm to have the most number of ESG-approved funds. Other mutual fund managers that have joined the list are Franklin Templeton and Hang Seng Investment Management.
An ETF was also added for the first time, which is Mirae Asset Global Investments’ Global X China Clean Energy ETF – a product that was just launched in January.
“The list of green and ESG funds does not constitute an official recommendation of these products or a guarantee of their green or ESG attributes or related performance,” the SFC notes on the website.
Funds passing the SFC’s ESG disclosure filter
| Funds added in February | |
| Franklin Templeton | Templeton Global Climate Change Fund |
| Hang Seng Investment Management | Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Index Fund |
| Pictet Asset Management | Pictet – Clean Energy |
| Pictet – Global Environmental Opportunities | |
| Pictet – Nutrition | |
| Pictet – SmartCity | |
| Pictet – Timber | |
| Pictet – Water | |
| Mirae Asset Global Investments | Global X China Clean Energy ETF |
| Funds added in December | |
| Alliance Bernstein | Sustainable US Thematic Portfolio |
| Sustainable Global Thematic Portfolio | |
| Allianz Global Investors | Allianz Emerging Markets SRI Bond |
| Allianz Emerging Markets SRI Corporate Bond | |
| Allianz Global Credit SRI | |
| Allianz Global Sustainability | |
| Allianz Green Bond | |
| Amundi | Amundi HK – Green Planet Fund |
| BNP Paribas Asset Management | BNP Paribas Funds Aqua |
| BNP Paribas Funds Global Environment | |
| BNP Paribas Funds Green Tigers | |
| Blackrock | ESG Multi-Asset Fund |
| Sustainable Energy Fund | |
| Fidelity | Fidelity Funds – Sustainable Strategic Bond Fund |
| HSBC Global Asset Management | HSBC Global Investment Funds – Global Equity Climate Change |
| HSBC Global Investment Funds – Global Lower Carbon Bond | |
| HSBC Global Investment Funds – Global Lower Carbon Equity | |
| Janus Henderson | Horizon Fund – Global Sustainable Equity Fund |
| Jupiter Asset Management | Jupiter Global Ecology Growth |
| Schroders | Global Climate Change Equity |
| Global Sustainable Growth |
