Note: We previously listed the WWF-Prescient Living Planet Fund as a conventional investment option. But as of August 2018, the Living Planet Fund’s 4th biggest holding was BHP Billiton, the world’s third largest coal company, and so we are, rather sadly, removing the Living Planet Fund from our list of options. (Note that BHP Billiton is included in contravention of the LPF’s own declared Environmental Parameters, “No direct holding in businesses whose core activities include… Coal-mining companies.”)
WWF is supportive of divestment efforts, and in South Africa, manages a Living Planet investment fund that is lower-carbon than the JSE as a whole and ‘aims to deliver sustainable long-term capital growth within a framework that integrates environmental sustainability principles’. The fund excludes any ‘direct investments’ in:
• Arms & weapon systems
• Nuclear power production
• Coal-mining companies
• Trade in CITES Flora & Fauna
• Tobacco
• Animal testing for cosmetic purposes
• Pornography
It also restricts investment in oil, gas, coal extraction, and companies with high water resource impacts.
As of June 2018, the fund does include a 2.3% share in BHP Billiton, a company listed on the Carbon Underground 200.
The minimum investment is R10,000, or R1,000 a month by debit order. The total investment charge is 1,66%. The annualised return since inception in May 2012 has been 6,74%.