The Goldman Sachs JUST U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF will try to reflect the performance of the Just Capital’s US Large Cap Diversified Index, which based on the Russell 1000 benchmark and targets companies that score well on environmental, social and governance metrics.
Index of Companies that Prioritizes the Public
To screen for its ESG-focused components, Just Capital conducts an annual survey taken from the American public and analyzes 120,000 data points across 85 unique metrics to score companies based on how they perform on key issues prioritized by the public. For instance, companies are ranked from worker issues, like providing a living wage and workplace safety; to customer concerns, such as privacy protection and truthful advertising; to environmental impacts, including minimizing pollution and resource efficiency. Companies are ranked by overall score, and the top 50% are selected and weighted by market cap.
The indexing methodology hopes to capitalize on the fact that companies found in the socially responsible index historically pay better, create more jobs, pay fewer fines, give twice as much to charity, emit less greenhouse gas, and have higher return on equity, compared with the rest of the Russell 1000.
“JUST is an important financial product — it specifically promotes corporate practices and policies that society values,” Timothy J. O’Neill, co-head of Goldman Sachs’ Investment Management Division, said in a note. “This focus allows investment to flow toward a more sustainable and equitable future, while seeking to generate attractive returns for investors.”
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UPDATE: JUST assets after its launch.