Just a month after the launch of the Standard & Poor’s U.S. Carbon Efficient Index, Trucost has published its Carbon Counts USA report.  The report covers 91 funds with more than $1.5 trillion in holdings.  The carbon footprints of the funds in the report range from 40 to 1,549.

“The funds with the lowest carbon footprints tend to exclude investments in relatively carbon-intensive sectors. The fund with the smallest carbon footprint at 40 tCO2-e/$ million (Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund) excludes the Basic Resources, Oil & Gas and Utilities sectors. The iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index Fund, which invests in carbon-intensive coal-fired utilities in China, has the largest carbon footprint at 1,549 tCO2-e/$ million.”  Source: Carbon Counts USA

For comparison, the S&P 500 has a carbon footprint of 384.  The in-depth report looks at 75 of the nation’s largest equity funds as well as 16 Sustainability/Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) funds.

 

Download the report:  Carbon Counts USA: The Carbon Footprints of Mutual Funds in the US (PDF – registration required).

 

via [GreenBiz.com]