Invesco expands ESG offering

Atlanta, Ga.-based Invesco Ltd. has expanded its environmental, social and governance (ESG) fund suite, with the launch of the Invesco S&P/TSX Composite ESG Index ETF.

The new fund will be the “first Canadian-listed ETF to track the S&P/TSX Composite ESG Index,” a Thursday release said, and it will offer exposure to “notable Canadian companies that have a thoughtful ESG tilt.”

The fund’s underlying index uses ESG criteria from the S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) in order to score and select companies based on sustainability assessments and analysis of public disclosures.

The release noted that the index is “broadly constructed” and that it doesn’t have a “narrow or thematic focus.”

With this launch, Invesco offers a total of nine sustainable ETFs in the Americas and eight in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Jason MacKay, head of wealth management intermediaries, Canada, said today’s launch offers “investors an ESG overlay on a key benchmark of the Canadian equity market.”

S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) launched the fund’s underlying index, S&P/TSX Composite ESG Index, in July.

The index seeks to offer “core exposure to the Canadian equities market while providing a significant boost in ESG score performance,” S&P DJI said in a separate release.

Products focused on ESG have become “mainstream,” said Reid Steadman, managing director and global head of ESG Indices at S&P DJI, since investors increasingly see the value of incorporating “sustainability data and principles.”

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