Two major fund managers, Fidelity and Janus Henderson, have today separately launched mutual funds designed to help tackle climate change.

Fidelity unveiled its Sustainable Climate Solutions Fund, which will invest in a global equity portfolio of “decarbonisation leaders and beneficiaries”, while Janus Henderson has launched its Sustainable Technology fund.

Fidelity says its fund will invest in firms trying to cap global warming to no more than 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, as recommended in the Paris Agreement. It says the global economy will need to go through a radical transformation to achieve this.

Fidelity analysts believe that almost a quarter of all companies will be carbon neutral by the end of this decade.

The Sustainable Climate Solutions Fund aims to achieve long-term capital growth by investing in companies which spur global decarbonisation efforts. The fund will be managed by sustainable thematic investors Velislava Dimitrova and Cornelia Furse.

Potential investment targets include electric vehicles, green hydrogen, autonomous vehicles, renewable energy, smart grids, industrial automation and agricultural efficiency. 

Velislava Dimitrova, lead-portfolio manager, Fidelity, said: “Climate change has prompted decarbonisation policies around the world to help achieve global carbon neutrality. The world needs to decarbonise urgently, at a faster pace that we have seen to date, and investors can play a major role in supporting this change.

“The decarbonisation challenge is on a scale unmatched in human history. But it is one that offers the companies meeting it a 30-year period of growth that surpasses even the internet revolution. Our Sustainable Climate Solutions Fund offers investors access to this long-term global mega-trend.”

The fund adopts a sustainable thematic strategy with a minimum of 70% of the fund’s net assets invested in companies that maintain sustainable characteristics.

Janus Henderson’s new Sustainable Future Technologies Fund will aim for long-term capital growth by investing in sustainable technology-related companies. The fund will be available as an OEIC and is aimed at wholesale retail and institutional investors in the UK.

The fund’s investment team, Alison Porter, Richard Clode and Graeme Clark, are based in London and Edinburgh. They will be supported by a growing global team of ESG specialists, led by Janus Henderson’s head of ESG Investments, Paul LaCoursiere. 

The fund will use a positive thematic framework to select investments aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and which derive at least 50% of their revenues from sustainable technology themes.

Richard Clode, fund manager at Janus Henderson Investors, said: “Clients increasingly expect and demand managers who deliver positive social, environmental and financial outcomes. We are really excited by the potential of this fund; moving away from traditional technology and looking for emerging and overlooked companies who meet a stringent sustainability criterion.”