The market widely expects the Bank of Canada to increase rates over 2022, in an ongoing attempt to combat inflation. For income seeking investors, this might mean getting better yields from bond portfolios. However, given that rates aren’t expected to rise astronomically, investors are likely still looking for sources of income. Today, we seek to flush out some of these ideas in the ETF space, while at the same time keeping an eye on sustainability.
To do so, I used Morningstar Direct to screen the 1274 Canadian-domiciled ETFs for those that follow a sustainable investing approach, as defined by Morningstar’s analysis of prospectus documents. Given that the Canadian securities regulators just recently released guidance on how fund manufacturers are to disclose their ESG-related approaches in such documents, the landscape may very well morph over the coming year as funds renew their filings.
For now, Morningstar has identified a list of funds based on existing language. Morningstar broadly flags sustainable investments in 3 ways: (1) those that use ESG factors as a core input to their investment decision process, (2) those that seek to make a measurable impact around core themes like gender & diversity or reduction of fossil-fuels, and (3) those that invest broadly in an environmental sector, like water or clean technology. The flags are not mutually exclusive, and fund managers are known to use more than one approach.
The list of ETFs that follow a sustainable investing approach includes close to 100 options. But with the intent to derive a yield from the investment, I sorted the list based on their 12-month trailing yield (noting that the calculation includes capital gains, dividend and interest payments but does not include any return of capital payments), and have displayed the top 10 in the table, alongside their Morningstar Category, MERs, and trailing returns.
Name |
Ticker |
MER (%) |
Morningstar Sustainability Rating |
YTD Returns (%) |
1-yr Returns (%) |
3-yr Returns (%) |
12-mo Yield (%) |
Sector Fund |
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iShares Global Water ETF Comm |
0.66 |
3 Globes |
-13.29 |
11.62 |
14.26 |
3.29 |
|
Global Corporate Fixed Income |
|
|
|
|
|
|
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BMO ESG US Corporate Bond Hdg to CAD ETF |
0.23 |
4 Globes |
-6.12 |
-4.48 |
|
3.07 |
|
Canadian Fixed Income |
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BMO ESG Corporate Bond ETF |
0.17 |
4 Globes |
-4.40 |
-3.31 |
|
3.06 |
|
Invesco ESG Canadian Core Plus Bond ETF |
0.49 |
3 Globes |
-5.80 |
-3.78 |
2.02 |
3.03 |
|
Desjardins RI Active Can Bd Low CO2 ETF |
0.42 |
4 Globes |
-4.70 |
-2.96 |
1.81 |
2.97 |
|
Canadian Equity |
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RBC Vision Women's Ldrsp MSCI Cnd ETF |
0.29 |
2 Globes |
-0.96 |
17.24 |
11.87 |
2.96 |
|
BMO MSCI Canada ESG Leaders ETF |
0.17 |
4 Globes |
-5.29 |
12.23 |
|
2.78 |
|
International Equity |
|
|
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BMO MSCI EAFE ESG Leaders ETF |
0.28 |
4 Globes |
-6.92 |
1.94 |
|
2.68 |
|
Desjardins RI Dev exUSAexCan MFLowCO2ETF |
0.69 |
4 Globes |
-6.26 |
0.20 |
4.53 |
2.52 |
|
Emerging Market Equity |
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Desjardins RI Em Mkts MF Low CO2 ETF |
0.74 |
3 Globes |
-0.71 |
-3.42 |
|
2.53 |
|
Source: Morningstar Direct | Data as of Feb 25, 2022 |
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The search did not include a screen for historical performance. Noting that many of these ETFs have less than a 3-year track record, Morningstar does not provide a Morningstar Star Rating for many of them. Additionally, the Morningstar Sustainability Rating (a.k.a. “Globe Ratings) are also included on the table but were not used in screening for ETFs. Recall that the globe ratings are a measure of the portfolio’s ESG risk, or financially material risks around environmental, social and governance factors.
This article does not constitute financial advice. Investors are encouraged to conduct their own independent research before purchasing any of the investments listed here.