Fidelity’s sustainable fund expansion: 8 new choices for savvy investors

Fidelity International today announced that it is expanding its fund range to include eight products classified under Article 9 of the Sustainability Financial Disclosure Regulation ("SFDR").

This suite of actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is open to retail, wholesale, and institutional investors. These products have emerged in response to client needs, which are increasingly demanding strategies to invest in issuers that contribute to and benefit from the transition to a more sustainable economy.

"These funds build on Fidelity's strengthened 'sustainable investing' framework, which includes a proprietary database that assesses an issuer's positive contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals ('SDGs') targets and indicators. From this foundation, we have been able to develop a range of funds for clients who want to align their investments with the transition to a sustainable economy".

Jenn-Hui Tan, global head of sustainability at Fidelity International.

Fidelity's Family of Sustainable Funds is growing

The Fidelity Family of Sustainable Funds is a range of funds covering different asset classes and characterized by a specific environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") framework. Its investment approach is based on three pillars: Fidelity's proprietary research, active dialogue, and exclusions.

As part of this family, Fidelity has launched two new SFDR Article 9 active management funds that aim to achieve long-term capital appreciation by targeting sustainable investments in their respective regions. They are as follows:

• Fidelity Funds - Sustainable Global Equity Fund, managed by Cornelia Furse as lead manager and supported by Matt Egerton as co-manager.
• Fidelity Funds - Sustainable Asian Focus Fund, managed by Mohit Mandhana.

In addition, four products in the Fidelity Family of Sustainable Funds have been reclassified and moved from Article 8 to Article 9 of the SFDR after adapting strategies to fit its framework. The management team of these reclassified funds remains in place. They are as follows:

• Fidelity Funds - Sustainable Biodiversity Fund 
• Fidelity Funds - Sustainable Climate Solutions Fund 
• Fidelity Funds - Sustainable Eurozone Equity Fund 
• Fidelity Funds - Sustainable US Equity Fund 

Article 9 funds must allocate 100% of their capital - net of liquidity and hedging instruments - to sustainable investments. For an issuer to meet Fidelity's definition of a 'sustainable investment', it must generate at least 50% of its income from activities that contribute to an environmental or social objective, as measured by the EU Taxonomy, Fidelity's own SDG tool or through a robust decarbonization strategy to net zero. In addition, as specified by the SFDR, sustainable investments are required to do no significant harm, meet minimum safeguards, and exhibit good corporate governance practices.

This set of actively managed SFDR Article 9 funds is complemented by two ETFs managed under Article 9 of the SFDR: the Fidelity Sustainable Global Corporate Bond Paris-Aligned Multifactor UCITS ETF and the Fidelity Sustainable Global High Yield Bond Paris-Aligned Multifactor UCITS ETF.

"Sustainability is one of the biggest and most disruptive megatrends facing the industry and is impacting our investment decision-making process head-on. We are committed to offering the best solutions to investors, which is why we strive to continue to develop relevant products for our clients over the long term. Following this latest expansion, our Sustainable Fund Family now comprises almost 60 strategies offering clients access to a range of funds across asset classes within a coherent ESG framework.

Christophe Gloser, Head of Continental European Sales at Fidelity International.