Are you paying too much for your ESG fund?


Some of the best returning environmental, social and governance (ESG) global equity funds are outperforming the sector average, while offering below average fees.
AXA IM Sustainable Equity (0.35% fee p.a.) and Dimensional Global Sustainability Trust Unhedged (0.45% fee p.a.) charged the lowest fees of the actively managed funds, while being the third and fourth top performers over the last three years, according to FE Analytics.
However, while CFS Generation WS Global Share (1.23% fee p.a.) and Nanuk New World (1.2% fee p.a.) charged above average fees, they were the best two performing funds.
The average management fee for global equity ESG funds was 0.9% p.a., slightly lower than the ACS Equity – Global average management fee of 0.95% p.a.
Fees of the top 10 best performing global ESG funds over the three years to 31 October 2019 annualised
Fund |
Return |
Fee |
20.48% |
1.23% |
|
18.00% |
1.20% |
|
16.92% |
0.35% |
|
16.39% |
0.45% |
|
*State Street International Equities Index Trust Low Carbon ESG |
16.09% |
0.24% |
15.69% |
0.35% |
|
15.67% |
1.28% |
|
14.16% |
0.85% |
|
13.95% |
0.98% |
|
13.89% |
0.56% |
*denotes passive fund
Source: FE Analytics
The best five performers were CFS Generation WS Global Share (20.48%), Nanuk New World (18%), AXA IM Sustainable Equity AUD (16.92%), Dimensional Global Sustainability Trust Unhedged (16.39%) and State Street International Equities Index Trust Low Carbon ESG (16.09%), over the three years to 31 October, 2019 on an annualised basis.
Only the top 11 outperformed the ACS Global – Equity sector.
Top performing global equity ESG funds over the three years to 31 October 2019
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