ESG Investing, a multi-media platform devoted to ESG and sustainable investing, has launched Greenlight, an accreditation service for ESG funds and products.
Greenlight gives fund providers the opportunity to have their products assessed by a panel of academic experts from leading institutions including Columbia Business School, Durham University, The London School of Economics, University of Bristol, University of Manchester and University of Oxford. The panel will assess if a fund is material in its reported sustainability and will also scrutinise the fund for the likelihood of unintentional adverse ESG outcomes, ensuring its sustainability impact is holistically assessed.
The service is open to all types of sustainable funds, including equity and fixed income, and submissions can be made by investment managers, wealth managers, hedge funds, private equity firms and ETF providers.
Jim Biss, Director of ESG Investing, says, “It is important that investors can differentiate between investment funds that make a material difference from those that are merely labelled ESG or are greenwashed. Greenlight is the only service to use independent academic experts to assess a fund’s ESG credentials and we believe the level of scrutiny we offer will provide funds with an invaluable endorsement, helping them to stand out from the crowd of ESG Funds.
“We have carefully selected a panel of leading experts from academia who are passionate about the issues that ESG funds relate to, covering subjects as diverse as climate change, equality, corporate governance and food sustainability. Accreditation from Greenlight means that our experts believe that your fund’s impact is positive and significant.”
