Ronald van Genderen

Sustainability funds have been selling like hot cakes in recent years. Not surprisingly, many fund houses like to see their funds classified as Article 8 or 9 under the SFDR. After all, these are the funds where sustainability criteria play a role in the investment process. We provide an overview of the most popular equity funds within this group over the past 12 months.

With investors’ appetite for risk diminishing, equity markets are having a tough time this year. Despite a war raging on Europe’s external borders, European shares are holding up relatively well. However, this mainly applies to so-called large-caps, because shares of smaller companies are deeper in the red.

Investors have become increasingly risk-averse this year and have sold off shares worldwide. Rising inflation, falling economic growth, the prospect of interest rate increases and geopolitical tensions do not bode well for risky investments.

The introduction of the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation should enable investors to better assess investment funds on their sustainability merits. The framework divides the fund landscape into three groups, with so-called Article 9 funds designated as the most sustainable, or dark green funds. 

For emerging countries, the first quarter of 2022 was dominated by the war in Ukraine unleashed by Russia. Equities from Russia itself suffered particularly badly. Various index compilers, including MSCI, have removed Russian shares from all their regional indices. At a price of 0, the MSCI Russia index has suffered a loss of 100 percent this year.