Stoxx Expands ESG Index Suite
May 29 2019 - 9:09AM
Dow Jones News
By Dieter Holger
Stoxx Ltd., the index provider of Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1.XE),
has expanded its suite of environmental, social and governance
benchmarks with 42 new indexes, including a version of the
bellwether Euro Stoxx 50 Index.
The new indexes are part of the German stock-market company's
ESG-X series, which screens out weapons, tobacco, thermal coal as
well as companies which violate the United Nations Global Compact
principles on human and labor rights, the environment, ethics and
anti-corruption, Stoxx said Wednesday. The indexer partnered with
ESG data provider Sustainalytics to assist with the screening.
Benchmarks target global and emerging markets, including
versions of the Stoxx Global 3000, Stoxx Global 1800 and Stoxx
Emerging Markets 800.
Stoxx said it also created an ESG-X version of the Stoxx USA 500
in response to clients demanding a European exclusion strategy
aimed at the U.S. market.
Indexers are stepping up their ESG offerings as asset managers
have rapidly deployed sustainable funds to meet consumer demand for
feel-good investing. There were 219 exchange-traded funds
world-wide with some sort of ESG mandate in 2018 compared with 62
in 2013, according to financial intelligence firm Morningstar.
"In order to meet ESG investment criteria, asset owners need to
look for solutions beyond the traditional market-cap-weighted
index, and still create portfolios that do not diverge from
standard benchmarks or incur additional costs," Inderpal Gujral,
head of product at Stoxx, said.
Stoxx is also looking to Europe's nascent ESG derivatives and
futures market. Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)
listed at least six sustainable finance products--including
derivatives--on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange as the first
leveraged products linked to Stoxx 's ESG indexes.
Write to Dieter Holger at dieter.holger@dowjones.com;
@dieterholger
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 29, 2019 09:54 ET (13:54 GMT)
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