More green The new sustainability in consulting
4 Reading Time
Have you ever received investment advice? If you have, you will know that questions about the return targets, the personal safety requirement and the liquidity of the investment are important cornerstones of the consultation. On the 2nd August of this year, another one was added: the question of the desire to invest sustainably.
In the context of financial advice, this is by no means an optional extra, but a legal obligation. For example, the Forum Sustainable Investment (FNG) expert association has developed an advisory guideline that gradually introduces and broadens the topic so that advisers and customers can meet these requirements.
This starts with an introductory question such as “Do you know what sustainable investments are?”, but also uses personal references such as “Have your children participated in a climate demonstration?” or social aspects such as “Do you worry about the consequences of climate change?”. The investment decision should therefore also take this aspect into account. But what is the legislator aiming for with this regulation?
The European Green Deal now affects investors every day
With the aim of promoting the positive impact of money, the EU Commission published the EU Sustainable Finance Action Plan in 2018 and derived concrete measures from it, such as the following: since the EU Taxonomy Regulation came into force in July 2020, the finance sector must disclose which parts of its investments meet the six taxonomy criteria: climate change, wastewater, land use, water supply, biodiversity, and health and quality of life.
The EU Disclosure Regulation, which has been in force since 10 March 2021, is closely aligned with the taxonomy. It obliges providers of financial products to ensure maximum transparency with regard to the consideration of sustainability topics and requires product classification in accordance with Articles 8 and 9. If a fund observes environmental and/or social characteristics in the investment process – such as an Article 8 fund – these must be presented transparently and in the Annual Report.
Where a fund has committed to the objective of combining returns with an environmental or social impact, the asset manager must not only present this transparently, but also provide measurable evidence. This is the case with an Article 9 fund – also known as an impact fund. Explaining this is now part of any investment advice provided.
Combines sustainability with returns: the klimaVest impact fund
klimaVest is a stock market-independent tangible asset fund that enables retail investors to invest directly in wind farms and solar parks. It not only opens up the opportunity to achieve an average return of 3.0 to 4.0 percent p.a., regardless of the volatility of the equity markets, but also to protect the climate.
With the aim of demonstrably reducing CO2 emissions to a defined extent, klimaVest is considered an impact fund. Just one year after its launch, the rating agency Scope Analysis GmbH gave it (P) a+AIF rating and certified that good risk-adjusted returns can be expected for a fund with this rating on the basis of quantitative and qualitative factors.
In view of its newness – klimaVest was launched on 28 October 2020 – the rating is “Preliminary” (P). A final rating can only be created after completion of two complete financial years. If you don't want to wait that long and want to contribute to climate change mitigation with an investment in an impact fund, simply use our digital advisory and subscription route.