JP Morgan Debuts 2nd ESG ETF

J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s newest ETF is an active approach toward investing in companies fighting climate change.

The JPMorgan Climate Change Solutions ETF (TEMP) debuted on the NYSE Arca on Tuesday with an expense ratio of 0.49%.

TEMP aims to provide exposure to companies involved in sustainable transportation, construction, agriculture, energy and recycling by using a proprietary algorithm to set the investable universe.

There are no limits to the geography or market capitalization that the fund can invest in. However, the fund fully bans nuclear energy producers and violators of the UN Global Compact, and has varying revenue exclusions for companies involved in weapons, tobacco and coal production.

TEMP appears to be a clone of the JPM Climate Change Solutions Fund, a British mutual fund that shares the same name, a similar strategy and the same three portfolio managers as the ETF. That fund has just shy of 62.3 million pounds in assets under management, and posted a 14.09% return since its debut in July.

That beats TEMP’s nearest competitor, the Goldman Sachs Future Planet Equity ETF (GSFP) on both price and performance. GSFP, which is actively managed and identifies nearly the same set of investment themes as TEMP, costs 26 basis points more than TEMP and has delivered a 4.57% loss since its launch in mid-July.

However, J.P. Morgan’s first swing at an ESG-flavored ETF is outperforming both. The JPMorgan Carbon Transition U.S. Equity ETF (JCTR) has delivered a year-to-date return of 27.34% with an expense ratio of 0.15%, 34 basis points cheaper than TEMP.

Contact Dan Mika at [email protected], and follow him on Twitter