ESG ETFs with the most fossil fuel exposure 2020

According to an analysis conducted in June 2020, around 83 percent of equity exchange traded funds (ETFs) presented as being sustainable had some exposure to fossil fuels. Of these, the environmental, social and governance (ESG) ETF with the highest investment in fossil fuels was the iShares ESG MSCI U.S.A. ETF, with 459 million U.S. dollars of their total assets under management being 'dirty.' While ESG is a broad concept which arguably does have space for investments in fossil fuels, some of the funds included in the list have names that seem to imply they do not hold dirty assets. For example, the iShares Global Clean Energy ETF held 46.07 million U.S. dollars of assets exposed to fossil fuels at this time.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) themed exchange traded funds (ETFs) with the largest exposure to fossil fuel companies as of June 2020, by assets under management (in million U.S. dollars)

Characteristic	Clean assets	Dirty assets
iShares ESG MSCI U.S.A. ETF (ESGU)	6,511	459
iShares ESG MSCI EM ETF (ESGE)	2,924.05	245.95
iShares ESG MSCI EAFE ETF (ESGD)	2,308.54	161.46
Xtrackers MSCI U.S.A. ESG Leaders Equity ETF (USSG)	2,189.71	120.29
iShares ESG MSCI USA Leaders ETF (SUSL)	2,178.86	121.14
iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF (DSI)	1,871.53	68.47
iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF (SUSA)	1,380.11	79.89
iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (ICLN)	667.49	46.07
SPDR S&P 500 Fossil Fuel Reserves Free ETF (SPYX)	537.14	29.33
iShares ESG MSCI EM Leaders ETF (LDEM)	532.92	53.36
iShares MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF (CRBN)	386.91	26.09
First Trust Global Wind Energy ETF (FAN)	74.91	29.47

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Release date

June 2020

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

2020

Supplementary notes

ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance. Effectively, ESG ETFs are those which only invest in companies which have policies in place to actively manage risk associated with these socially conscious areas.

'Clean' assets, being assets not invested in fossil fuels, have been calculated by Statista using values provided by the source. 'Dirty assets refer to assets under management which are exposed to fossil fuels.

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