Impact Shares Bolsters ETF Lineup With New Sustainable ETF

Impact Shares, the upstart, nonprofit exchange-traded funds issuer supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, on Monday launched its third ETF.

The Sustainable Development Goals Global Equity ETF SDGA, launched in collaboration with the United Nations, is the newest ETF from Dallas-based Impact Shares.

What Happened

In late August, Impact Shares launched the Impact Shares YWCA Women’s Empowerment ETF WOMN, which tracks the Morningstar Women’s Empowerment Index.

Impact Shares' first ETF is the Impact Shares NAACP Minority Empowerment ETF NACP. That fund debuted in July.

Why It's Important

The Sustainable Development Goals Global Equity ETF was launched in collaboration with the UN's United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), which works with companies and governments to make public and private finance available to people in the world’s 47 Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

“The new ETF allows investors to invest alongside companies that are deploying capital to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a universal call to action to reduce poverty and support economic development globally,” according to Impact Shares.

The newest Impact Shares ETF holds 34 stocks and follows the Morningstar Societal Development Index. Morningstar's suite of sustainability indexes provide “exposure to companies that exhibit high standards of sustainability while maintaining a risk/return profile similar to that of the overall market,” according to the index provider.

What's Next

The UN has previously partnered with other ETF issuers on funds including the SPDR MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF LOWC and the iShares MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF CRBN.

SDGA's net management fee will be donated to UNDCF for the agency's work in the least developed countries.

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