Exchange traded funds adhering to socially responsible investing (SRI) an environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards are proliferating. A compelling member of that fray is the Goldman Sachs JUST U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF (NYSEArca: JUST), which debuted last June.
Socially responsible investment strategies allow people to invest in companies that they may personally believe in, but it does not mean that investors have to give up on returns to combine their beliefs with their investments.
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.
“We have this big disconnect of what the American public thinks and what corporate boardrooms, the C-suite, are actually doing,” said Paul Tudor Jones, according to DealBreaker. “The interesting thing is there’s a way to bridge that gap where everyone wins.”
A Growing Theme
Investing based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles is a theme garnering increased attention, but in the U.S., the 50 or so ESG ETFs have just over $6 billion in combined assets under management. Last month, BlackRock, the largest ETF issuer, said it sees the ESG fund universe jumping to $400 billion over the next decade.