A U.S. investment firm will soon launch the very first ETF that promises not to invest in companies that profit from animal testing and fossil fuels. A new trend?

Beyond Investing claims that the U.S. Vegan Climate ETF (VEGN) will help make the world a nicer, cleaner and healthier world. The ETF will launch on September 10, 2019 on the New York Stock Exchange, according to «Reuters».

The company says that people who supported a vegan lifestyle and cared for the environment had few options to choose from.

«But until now, vegans and environmentalists have had little choice but to profit from animal cruelty and environmental devastation through their investment options,» the company said in a statement. «While interest in socially responsible investing (SRI) continues to grow, the availability of financial products that explicitly reject animal exploitation has been limited, if not completely absent in most markets.»

Investment Product for Animal Rights Activists

The new exchange-traded fund takes the Solactive U.S. Large Cap Index and excludes those companies with activities it claims are incompatible with a vegan and climate-friendly investment approach. The stocks that are excluded are replaced by mid-caps that fulfill the criteria. The fund managers have excluded 43 percent of the 500 firms in the index.

The company wants to help vegans and animal rights activists to invest in companies that are operating in line with their own values. Arms manufacturing and human rights violations and two additional aspects the fund is putting its emphasis on.

Expensive Claim

The investment firm evidently had to make a substantial effort into identifying the firms that don’t correspond to the values it upholds, which goes to explain the relatively high commission of 0.6 percent.

The ETF will be available in most countries with one notable exception – the EU. The union in 2018 implemented a rule about the information requirements for investment products aimed at private investors, which meant that U.S. ETFs were removed from the brokerage platforms. Beyond Investors is working on a structure that would fulfil the EU’s requirements.