Natixis has launched a climate change fund as part of its Luxembourg Impact Funds portfolio, a Sicav which manages a total €100 million in assets.

The asset management arm of France’s second biggest bank, has designed this new investment vehicle in the hope that it fits into the global equities portion of an institutional portfolio. It is also available for retail investors.

The new Impact Fund Climate Change fund's two managers, Suzanne Senellart and Clotilde Basselier, say that their investment universe will consist of about 3,600 shares with market caps of more than $1.5 billion (€802 million).

This universe of shares will undergo thematic and quantitative filters and the sample would then be reduced to nearly 360 investable shares from 36 countries and 39 sectors, the company said.

The whole process will also consist of a screening for best practices, and the ‘worst offenders’ eliminated. Firms whose conduct - in terms of human rights, waste treatment and pollution, or corruption - is wanting, will be kept out.

Natixis boasts a total of €4.3 billion of SRI assets under management. Its Nord Sud Développement fund created 25 years ago, is one of the oldest in the market.

But there is a raft of socially responsible funds on the market, including the DWS Invest Climate Change and DWS Invest New Resources, run by formerly Citywire AAA-rated Nic Huber.

Erste Sparinvest’s Espa funds, WWF Stock Climate Change run by Wolfgang Pinner that focuses on companies' products endorsed by the NGO World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the ESPA WWF Stock Umwelt run by Hans Leitner are also among the selection available to European investors.