European thematic ETF issuer Rize ETF announced today the launch of Rize Environmental Impact 100 UCITS ETF (LIFE), a new fund aimed at providing exposure to companies involved in solutions addressing the most pressing climate and environmental challenges.

The new ETF targets the 100 most impactful companies in areas including clean water, EVs, renewables and hydrogen, energy efficiency and waste, as well as those working towards the circular economy and nature-based solutions.

Stuart Forbes, Co-Founder and Director of Rize ETF said:

“Our planet is under threat like never before. Temperatures are rising, rainfall patterns are shifting and sea ice cover is retreating. Oceans are acidifying, soils are degrading and droughts and floods are now commonplace. Exploitation and degradation of Earth’s remaining natural resources, habitats and biodiversity continues. We need to take collective action now. That requires us to put our hands into our pockets and vote with our capital.”

Rize developed the new impact ETF through its strategic partnership with sustainable investing, ESG intelligence and climate policy specialist Sustainable Market Strategies (SMS).

Rahul Bhushan, Co-Founder and Director of Rize ETF said:

“What we have created here in partnership with SMS is an investment strategy and ETF that is purpose-built for taxonomy-aligned portfolios. As allocators of capital, we have the choice today to align ourselves with public policy objectives. The EU Taxonomy is incredibly thorough, and provides investors and companies with definitions around the type of economic activities that should be considered environmentally sustainable. We believe this is a hugely constructive and positive first step for the asset management industry as we try to phase out greenwashing and vacuous value-signalling.”

Félix A. Boudreault, Managing Partner at Sustainable Market Strategies added:

“We are very pleased to be working with Rize ETF to bring our extensive experience in environmental public policy and sustainable investment research to bear in this ground-breaking initiative in Europe. With the proliferation of greenwashing that unfortunately pervades our industry, we were together determined to develop a robust investible solution that cut through the noise. We have created an ETF that does not just focus on carbon avoidance, or carbon mitigation, but one which seeks to identify the companies that are leaders and innovators in their respective environmental sub-sectors as per the EU Taxonomy.

LIFE is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), with additional listings planned on the Deutsche Börse Xetra, Borsa Italiana and the SIX Swiss Exchange.