Despite closely tracking the very broad US equities index Russell 1000, a new “carbon transition” ETF by JP Morgan Asset Management claims to offer a 30 percent carbon intensity reduction comparted with the index, as well as a further year-on-year decarbonisation target of at least 7 percent.
The “JPMorgan Carbon Transition U.S. Equity ETF” was launched last week, trading on NYSE Arca under the ticker JCTR. It builds on a framework that JP Morgan has built to promote investment targets that are proactive on emissions, resource management and risk management – using a broad range of data sources – without distorting the distribution across sectors.
According to a presentation of the fund on the ETF Trends website, “the framework imports primary data sourced directly from companies and alternative data sources from ThemeBot, JPMAM’s proprietary natural language processing tool, which can capture a range of innovative signals, such as a company’s green capital expenditure. The framework’s ratings will then determine which companies are emphasized, through underweight and overweight positions, without taking sector bets.”