The international team of vegan finance professionals at Beyond Investing announced Monday what it claims will be the world’s first vegan-friendly and climate-conscious ETF, set to launch Sept. 10. That is when the US Vegan Climate Exchange Traded ETF (VEGN) launches on the New York Stock Exchange.
With a total expense ratio of 0.60%, the ETF will track the US Vegan Climate Index (VEGAN) launched by Beyond Investing in June 2018. This index takes the Solactive US Large Cap Index, what it refers to as a proxy for the S&P 500 Index, and “excludes any stocks whose activities are incompatible with a vegan and climate-conscious approach to investing, replacing damaging stocks with midcap alternatives that meet its ethical criteria.”
The cost of the ETF, in a statement from Beyond Investing CEO Claire Smith, comes mainly from the amount of research and creation of a proprietary data set.
“It requires a lot of detailed work to ensure that all relevant information is collected and analyzed,” Smith said.
In addition to the data set, policies and rules as to what may or may not go into the index and a construction methodology to avoid concentration are also research aspects that must be considered in constructing the fund’s holdings.
