Abrdn has launched a Responsible Global Asset Strategies (RGAS) fund for investors who want to focus on responsible and sustainable issues without sacrificing returns.

The RGAS fund will predominantly invest in companies and issuers (including sovereigns) that promote ESG characteristics.

It will be comprised of 20 to 30 investment strategies that span geographies and asset classes.

The RGAS fund targets a return in excess of 5% over cash and a volatility of 4-8% p.a. over three-year periods.

The fund’s annual management charge will be 1.35% for retail investors.

It is also an EU SFDR article 8 fund and therefore will avoid companies and countries with high or poorly-managed ESG risks.

The managers of the fund are Katy Forbes, Gerry Fowler and Catie Wearmouth of the abrdn multi-asset solutions team.

Katy Forbes, head of absolute return at abrdn, said: “We think that it is possible to invest responsibly without sacrificing returns. We aim to identify opportunities which offer attractive returns and that we believe are responsible.” 

To assess ESG risk, the team uses Abrdn’s ESG House Score developed by its central ESG investment team to assess companies in terms of their responsibility and environmental sustainability. The team ranks countries according to ESG and political factors and excludes those with the highest risk.

For its core global equity allocation, the RGAS fund targets a 50% reduction in weighted average carbon intensity compared to passive global equities.