Rize ETF has launched a fund targeting environmental sustainability that is designed to provide investors with exposure to the top 100 most impactful companies developing and applying innovative solutions regarding climate and environmental challenges.
The Rize Environmental Impact 100 UCITS ETF (LIFE) is classified as an Article 9 fund under SFDR and carries an OCF of 0.55%.
As part of its investment framework, LIFE employs a proprietary classification methodology that seeks to deconstruct the six environmental objectives into a series of "high impact" investment sub-sectors that the fund invests in.
The sub-sector taxonomy is fluid and built to be dynamic over time as the European Commission incrementally builds out their complete EU Taxonomy and unveils the rest of the broader SFDR regulatory framework.
The launch comes less than 24 hours after the anouncement that Martin Gilbert's AssetCo would pay £16.5m for a 63% stake in the ETF provider.
Rahul Bhushan, co-founder and director of Rize ETF, said: "What we have created here in partnership with SMS is an investment strategy and ETF that is purpose-built for taxonomy-aligned portfolios. As allocators of capital, we have the choice today to align ourselves with public policy objectives.
"We believe this is a hugely constructive and positive first step for the asset management industry as we try to phase out greenwashing and vacuous value-signalling. Crucially, it also offers much greater clarity to companies as they seek to make their own green transition.
Stuart Forbes, co-founder and director of Rize ETF, added: "Our planet is under threat like never before. We need to take collective action now. That requires us to put our hands into our pockets and vote with our capital.
"The Rize Environmental Impact 100 UCITS ETF is designed to give investors exposure to the top 100 most impactful companies in the environmental universe while also providing them the comfort that their capital is being geared towards maximising environmental sustainability in each of our relevant sub-sectors."
LIFE is purpose-built in partnership with Sustainable Market Strategies, an independent specialist in sustainable investing, ESG intelligence and climate policy based in Montreal, Canada.
Rize ETF grows product suite with double launch
Félix Boudreault, managing partner at Sustainable Market Strategies, commented: "With the proliferation of greenwashing that unfortunately pervades our industry, we were together determined to develop a robust investible solution that cuts through the noise.
"We have created an ETF that does not just focus on carbon avoidance, or carbon mitigation, but one which seeks to identify the companies that are leaders and innovators in their respective environmental sub-sectors as per the EU Taxonomy. We are investing across the most cutting-edge technologies and solutions across clean water, EVs, renewables and hydrogen, energy efficiency, waste and the circular economy and nature-based solutions."
The fund is available now on the London Stock Exchange trading under the tickers LIFE (USD) and LVNG (GBP).
