Good Money Week is a reminder that sustainable investing comes in many forms. The FundCalibre team examines five funds with very different approaches.
We’re currently halfway through Good Money Week, the annual campaign encouraging people to think about sustainable and ethical choices across their pensions, savings, banking and investments.
But what does a sustainable investment actually look like?
If I asked you to name the top holdings of a sustainable fund, you’d probably name wind farms, solar panels and electric vehicles companies – am I right?
Yet, when you look under the bonnet of a sustainable investment fund, you find some rather familiar names: Nvidia, Mastercard, TSMC – even bonds issued by some of the world’s largest financial institutions.
The reason is simple: there is no single way to invest sustainably. Different managers define their sustainable universe in very different ways and their portfolios can look surprisingly different as a result.
Here are five Elite Rated funds that demonstrate just how broad the sustainable investment landscape has become.
1. CT Responsible Global Equity
Anyone expecting a sustainable fund to avoid the world’s technology giants may be surprised by CT Responsible Global Equity. Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, Mastercard, Apple and pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly all feature among its largest holdings*.
The managers follow an “Avoid, Invest, Improve” philosophy. Certain activities are excluded (including tobacco, weapons and fossil fuels) but the team can also invest in businesses where it believes problems can be addressed through engagement.
Its investments are then considered through long-term sustainability themes, including areas such as resource efficiency, energy transition and health and wellbeing. In other words, being a huge global company doesn’t automatically rule you out.
2. Liontrust Sustainable Future Global Growth
This fund takes a different approach. While the fund can own some of the technology giants, it is currently underweight Microsoft, Apple and Nvidia*.
Instead, its largest holdings include Visa, TSMC, Broadcom, ASML, Charles Schwab, life sciences company Waters Corporation and Danish bank Ringkjøbing Landbobank*.
Liontrust searches for businesses benefiting from three broad structural trends: better resource efficiency, improved health, and greater safety and resilience.
Every potential investment must then pass tests covering sustainability, company fundamentals and valuation. Sustainable investing here isn’t simply about finding the greenest-looking companies; it’s about identifying businesses the managers believe are positioned to benefit from a changing economy.
3. Ninety One Global Environment
This fund takes a much more targeted approach, investing only in companies contributing to the decarbonisation of the global economy. Its portfolio includes TSMC, biosolutions company Novonesis, Tetra Tech (water, environment, and sustainable infrastructure specialist), Italian utility company Enel Group and Swedish manufacturing company Atlas Copco*.
A semiconductor manufacturer might initially seem an unusual environmental investment, but the team’s analysis goes beyond obvious renewable-energy businesses.
Companies must derive at least 50% of their revenues from renewable energy, resource efficiency or electrification, while the managers analyse the carbon emissions that can be avoided by using their products or services.
The result is a concentrated portfolio of around 20-40 companies that looks very different from the wider global market.
4. Liontrust Sustainable Future Monthly Income Bond
Of course, sustainable investing isn’t limited to only equities. Liontrust Sustainable Future Monthly Income Bond invests predominantly in corporate bonds and currently has around 40% of its portfolio in core financials*.
Major credit issuers include Banco Santander, NatWest, Investec, Anglian Water Osprey Financing and Nationwide Building Society*.
That may sound very different from a traditional picture of sustainable investing, but Liontrust applies its sustainability analysis to bond issuers too.
Companies are assessed on both the sustainability of their products and services and how well they manage environmental, social and governance risks.
The managers believe this can also help them identify higher-quality businesses with resilient cashflows – an important consideration when your return depends on an issuer continuing to service its debt.
5. Rathbone Greenbank Global Sustainable Bond
Here’s another side of the fixed-income universe available to sustainable investors. The fund’s holdings include bonds issued by organisations such as the European Investment Bank, Asian Development Bank and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, alongside corporate issuers including AXA and GSK*.
But what’s more interesting is what this fund doesn’t own. The managers don’t invest in US Treasuries because they don’t meet the fund’s sustainability screening criteria.
So, when they increased the portfolio’s sensitivity to US interest rates in August, they instead bought more US dollar-denominated debt from the Inter-American Development Bank.
As a highly-rated supranational organisation, the managers expect its bonds to behave similarly to US Treasuries while still meeting the fund’s sustainability requirements**.
It’s a good illustration of sustainable investing in practice: the fund’s screening criteria can rule out one of the world’s largest bond markets, but the managers can seek alternative investments that provide similar characteristics.
Go beyond the label this Good Money Week
Perhaps the biggest lesson from Good Money Week is that the word “sustainable” tells you surprisingly little on its own.
Two funds carrying the label can own completely different companies because their managers are asking different questions.
One may focus on exclusions, another on companies enabling decarbonisation, while another looks for businesses benefiting from long-term structural changes.
So, if sustainable investing matters to you, don’t stop at the name on the fund. Look at what it actually owns, and, more importantly, why it owns it. You may be surprised by what you find.
*Source: fund factsheet, 31 August 2026
**Source: Rathbones, August 2026
Past performance is not a reliable guide to future returns. You may not get back the amount originally invested, and tax rules can change over time. Juliet’s views are her own and do not constitute financial advice.
Main image: sustainable investing, micheile-henderson-lZ_4nPFKcV8-unsplash
