At this point, every single ESG fund is so different that it’s hardly fair to say they are comparable. The only thing comparable across all ESG funds is that their expense ratios are astronomical.
If you are in favor of the general concept (I am), you’ll be disappointed to discover that data is sparse and unreliable. This factor alone is a major bottleneck for making good ESG funds. And so the current landscape is a mix of things; some funds are barely more than populist opinion lists.
But to be completely honest, quality is not really the point! The mutual fund and ETF industry has just gone through 2 decades of Vanguard, Blackrock and other engaging in a fee price war. Index funds have extremely low fees! And so now we have these ESG funds that are super popular AND investors don’t care about the price!!! Of course they are pushing them! Of course everyone is creating new one! Seriously, go look at the fee difference between Vanguard’s total market funds and their ESG funds. You’re going to fall out of your chair!
The only ESG index I know of that is really trying for quality, objectivity, and rigor is the CRSP ESG series. But hey, you can’t invest in it - it’s an academic exercise only (CRSP is part of UChicago). One of the cool things is that each series has twins: an index of companies that meet the criteria and an index of companies that don’t. So you can compare performance.
So we've moved from the "this is pointless, it can't actually hurt fossil fuel companies" stage to the "this is a terrible attack on fossil fuel companies, we must ban it". A small bit of progress.
But you don't see the GOP banning it on that basis do you?
Do you have any reasonable evidence to show environmental risks are anti-science? Or better yet, what evidence does the GOP have to support a government ban on it?
The burden of proof is on the GOP here. A burden they have failed to meet. They're banning it without putting forth any logical/truthful basis for doing so.
Any action that defies their political bias and rhetoric (aka lies), they want to legally ban --- without any clear logical basis or expressed government interest in doing so.
The truth is, most available evidence suggests that ignoring environmental risks could be detrimental to the state of Florida and it's retirement fund investments. But the GOP don't care --- politics over governance, logic and truth.
At this point, every single ESG fund is so different that it’s hardly fair to say they are comparable. The only thing comparable across all ESG funds is that their expense ratios are astronomical.
If you are in favor of the general concept (I am), you’ll be disappointed to discover that data is sparse and unreliable. This factor alone is a major bottleneck for making good ESG funds. And so the current landscape is a mix of things; some funds are barely more than populist opinion lists.
But to be completely honest, quality is not really the point! The mutual fund and ETF industry has just gone through 2 decades of Vanguard, Blackrock and other engaging in a fee price war. Index funds have extremely low fees! And so now we have these ESG funds that are super popular AND investors don’t care about the price!!! Of course they are pushing them! Of course everyone is creating new one! Seriously, go look at the fee difference between Vanguard’s total market funds and their ESG funds. You’re going to fall out of your chair!
The only ESG index I know of that is really trying for quality, objectivity, and rigor is the CRSP ESG series. But hey, you can’t invest in it - it’s an academic exercise only (CRSP is part of UChicago). One of the cool things is that each series has twins: an index of companies that meet the criteria and an index of companies that don’t. So you can compare performance.