Global asset manager Columbia Threadneedle Investments announced that it will adopt the new “Sustainability Focus” label introduced by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) for nine of its global equities, UK equities and multi-asset funds. The firm added that it aims to adopt an SDR sustainability label for two of its fixed income funds in the future.

The FCA’s SDR requirements were  introduced by the regulator in November 2023, aimed at helping investors assess the sustainability attributes of investment products, and to avoid greenwashing risk, to portfolio managers. The SDR included naming and marketing rules for investment products, requiring that sustainability-related terms can only be used in product names and marketing if a label is used.

The FCA rules introduce four labels intended to help consumers to differentiate between the sustainability objectives and investment approaches of investment products. These include Sustainability Focus, for products that aim to invest in assets that are environmentally and socially sustainable; Sustainability Improvers, investing in assets that have the potential to improve environmental and/or social sustainability over time; Sustainability Impact, investing with an aim to achieve a predefined positive and measurable environmental or social impact, and; Sustainability Mixed Goals, a newly introduced category for funds that invest across different sustainability objectives and strategies aligned with the other categories. The rules include a series of criteria for products to use the labels, including a requirement for at least 70% of the products assets to ordinarily be invested in line with the label’s objective, as well as ongoing product-level disclosures for products using a label.

While initially scheduled to come into force in December 2024, the FCA delayed implementation of the new naming and marketing rules under the SDR to April 2025, to give more time for firms to meet the new standards.

According to Columbia Threadneedle, the nine funds that will adopt the Sustainability Focus label include four equities funds – the CT Sustainable Opportunities Global Equity Fund, CT Sustainable Global Equity Income Fund, CT Responsible Global Equity Fund and the CT UK Sustainable Equity Fund – and the five funds that make up its range of sustainability-orientated active multi-asset funds, Sustainable Universal MAP, which include Defensive, Cautious, Balanced, Growth and Adventurous funds.

Mike O’Toole, Co-Head of UK Wholesale Distribution at Columbia Threadneedle, said:

“We are excited to announce nine funds will adopt the new SDR “Sustainability Focus” label. We believe the label provides the necessary transparency and clarity to investors looking to allocate their money to sustainable outcomes.

“Funds from across our core client offering will adopt the “Sustainability Focus” label, including global and UK equities as well as our full range of sustainable, actively managed low-cost multi-asset solutions.”