Deforestation Free Funds sources financial data on equities and mutual funds from Morningstar. Our database contains information on thousands of U.S. open-end and exchange traded mutual funds, some of the most common funds held in 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and other retirement plans.
Search for mutual funds using name, ticker symbol, or asset manager. Use the search page to filter funds by investing style, fund family, and more. When you find a fund you're looking for, click on it to see the full results.
Looking for your favorite fund and can’t find it? We don't have everything in our database - we only screen mutual funds that own direct stock investments, and can only display up to 3,000.
The 2020 Deforestation Free Funds list is comprised of 380 publicly listed companies, compiled from independent research as well as from existing resources within the civil society research and investor advocacy communities on forest-risk companies, including Forests & Finance, Forest500, CDP Forests, Supply Change.org and ZSL SPOTT. Every company on the Deforestation Free Funds list may be considered at risk for exposure to tropical deforestation, whether directly through production and trading (Commodity producers and traders); through supply chain links (Major consumer brands); or through financing of producers and traders (Forest-risk banks and lenders). Where a company is a parent or a subsidiary of a privately held company, only the publicly listed company is named.
Most companies on the list were sourced through existing resources within the civil society research and investor advocacy communities, including Forests & Finance, Forest500, CDP Forests, Supply Change.org and ZSL SPOTT.
Relative criteria: a significant percentage of company revenues are engaged in that deforestation-risk business sector. An example is Equatorial Palm Oil, which has a significant percentage of company revenues engaged in palm oil production.
Absolute criteria: the percentage of company revenues engaged in that deforestation-risk business sector is not significant, but due to the large size of the company, the total amount of company revenue engaged in that deforestation-risk business sector is significant. An example is Amazon.com, which is a major consumer brand engaged in all six commodity sectors analyzed (palm oil, paper/pulp, rubber, timber, cattle, and soy). While the percentage of Amazon's company revenues engaged in these sectors is not significant, the sheer size of Amazon's operations makes the total amount of revenue significant.
Policy criteria: the company has no corporate policies to manage and mitigate risk in the deforestation-risk business sectors it's engaged in (i.e. does not have a No Deforestation policy, or has gaps in achieving full implementation of said policy).
For each mutual fund in our database, we examine every holding and determine if it is a stock issued by one of the companies on our three deforestation-risk lists: agricultural commodity producers and traders, banks and lenders, and major consumer brands.
Mutual funds can have a varying number of holdings, from less than one hundred to several thousand. We calculate the total number of flagged holdings in the fund, and the total amount and percentage of the fund’s assets that are invested in those companies.
If a fund doesn't invest in any of the deforestation-risk companies we look for, that means it earns an A grade. You'll see a chart like this:
However, if a fund does have stock investments in deforestation-risk companies, you'll see a chart like this, showing the overall exposure.
The breakdown of exposure is listed for each of the three deforestation-risk categories.
The list of holdings flagged for each different type of deforestation-risk is also displayed.
We only look for direct stock holdings in deforestation-risk companies. That means that holdings that are not stocks, like cash holdings or bonds, are not rated. In the fund's investment profile, we show a Percent Rated metric, equivalent to the percent of the fund that is invested in stocks. The higher a fund’s Percent Rated value, the more holdings we were able to examine. A fund with a lower Percent Rated value may have hidden deforestation-related investments that our tool cannot account for, in the form of bond holdings or other asset types.
Based on whether a fund has direct stock investments in these companies, we assign one of six grades. Only funds that own stocks are scored - bond funds and other asset classes are excluded.
No holdings flagged for our deforestation screens: Assigned a grade of A.
Fund is invested in deforestation-risk banks and lenders and/or major consumer brands, but no holdings flagged for our deforestation-risk agricultural commodity producer/trader screen: Assigned a grade of B.
Fund is invested in deforestation-risk agricultural commodity producer/traders, below the threshold of 0.5%: Assigned a grade of C.
Fund is invested in deforestation-risk agricultural commodity producer/traders, above the threshold of 0.5% and below 1.5%: Assigned a grade of D.
Fund is invested in deforestation-risk agricultural commodity producer/traders, above the threshold of 1.5%: Assigned a grade of F.
These thresholds reflect the distribution of results across funds, placing an approximately equal number of funds from the analysis universe in the C, D, and F grade ranges.
If a fund owns some of the companies we screen for, but has a proven track record of engaging the companies it owns by taking actions such as filing shareholder resolutions on deforestation or similar environmental issues, it earns a special acknowledgement as a “known sustainability engager”, instead of a letter grade.
“Known sustainability engager” grade. Fund is offered by an asset manager that frequently engages companies it invests in to push for better behavior using the shareholder resolution process.
Read more about how fund managers engage companies on deforestation.
If you see this symbol, it means that fund has a sustainability mandate.
Funds with sustainability mandates make investment decisions based on issues like environmental responsibility, human rights, or religious views. A sustainability-mandated fund may take a proactive stance by selectively investing in, for example, environmentally-friendly companies, or firms with good employee relations. They may also avoid investing in companies involved in promoting alcohol, tobacco, or gambling, or in the defense industry.
If you see this symbol, it means that fund is a known sustainability engager.
Some sustainability-mandated funds actively engage the companies they own. Indeed, efforts by sustainability-focused investors whose funds are found on this site have been crucial to driving positive change in the palm oil sector. A number of fund families are known sustainability engagers, and have taken actions such as filing shareholder resolutions asking for policy changes. Those families deserve special acknowledgement - often, they are using their investments to make sure they have a voice at the table to call for real improvements in company behavior. We used data collected by Ceres to identify fund families that have filed shareholder resolutions on deforestation, climate change, or other environmental issues. If a fund owns companies we screen for, but the family is a known filer of deforestation or environmental-related shareholder resolutions, it earns a special engagement score. Read more about our deforestation grades.
Are you a fund manager that has filed a deforestation-related shareholder resolution, or otherwise engage the companies in your portfolio on sustainability issues?
If you see this symbol, it means that fund is a member of US-SIF.
The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment (known as US-SIF) is a group advancing sustainable, responsible, and impact investing. Asset managers who are members of US-SIF often have policies to exclude or restrict investments in companies with environmental or social risk.
