The Big Issue Group (TBIG), in partnership with Aberdeen Standard Investments, has launched a new fund offering people the chance to invest in solving climate change.
The Multi-Asset Climate Solutions (MACS) Fund actively searches the globe for companies that get at least half of their revenue from climate change solutions and other key environmental challenges. Currently, less than five per cent of the world’s companies fit the bill.
A fifth of the net revenue from the fund will be reinvested back into The Big Issue to help support its mission of dismantling poverty for now and future generations.
A multi-asset fund enables investors to invest across a range of different assets classes. MACS therefore provides investors with the opportunity to actively participate in the climate shift whilst spreading risk across equities, bonds and real estate.
While its focus is on solutions, the fund won’t invest in any companies involved in activities that harm people or the planet. These include fossil fuels, tobacco, weapons, unethical practices such as child labour, and companies which have high carbon emissions.
A new Climate Advisory Group has been set up to ensure the fund ‘walks the talk’. It is made up of respected environmental, policy and finance experts and climate activists from TBIG and ASI.
24-year-old climate activist Jouja Maamri, a representative of TBIG on the group, said: “It is important that the fund takes into account what young people like me have to say. After all, it’s our generation and the ones after us that will bear the costs of climate change.
“This fund allows individuals to take targeted action. By choosing to invest in green companies, you’re saying you’re not ok with the status quo. You don’t have to be a big investor. You are part of a bigger collective - when lots of people mobilise whatever money they have for good, it can bring about change on a corporate level.”
From renewable energy and green buildings to electric vehicles and remote working technologies, the fund invests in companies that are enabling the transition to a low carbon economy.
Nigel Kershaw OBE, Chair of The Big Issue Group, said: “Crucially, this fund is about what we can do to address climate change, rather than just what we shouldn’t be doing. Like The Big Issue, it’s all about ‘solutions, not just exclusions.’ It’s a chance for anyone to invest not only for the prospect of financial return*, but an environmental and social one too.
“The Big Issue’s mission is to build a world that works for everyone, for now and for future generations. The MACS Fund is a natural extension of this mission, given that the negative effects of climate change are likely to be felt by the poorest and most vulnerable people in our communities first and hardest.”
The fund recognises that the health of the planet and the people living on it are closely linked.
Fund Manager Craig Mackenzie, of ASI, said: “The MACS Fund gives people a way to put their money to work helping to drive the global shift to Net Zero, while also benefitting from the high growth investment opportunities that go with it.
“The MACS Fund helps to meet a range of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which were adopted by world leaders in 2015 to help fight poverty, inequality, environmental degradation and climate change. These include developing clean water, controlling air pollution and building the sustainable infrastructure needed to move towards a green economy.”
The fund follows the launch of The Big Exchange, which - co-founded by TBIG - is the UK’s first online investment platform to only invest in managed funds that make a positive impact on the planet and society.
The MACS Fund is available at www.thebigexchange.com* - from £25 a month or a lump sum of £100 - or through an independent financial advisor on Standard Life’s Wrap and Elevate platforms.