Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds

Why invest in the Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds?

Video, 1:08 min

Watch the video to find out how the Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds support the move to a climate neutral economy.

Investing in the Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds may involve above average risk. Please see the ‘Key risks’ section for further information.

Our Carbon Neutral Fund range

Click here for more information on each fund. For more information on the disclosures required pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 (SFDR) please see www.carnegroup.com/zurich.

Zurich Carbon Neutral EMU Equity Fund

Coming soon

Zurich Carbon Neutral US Equity Fund

Coming soon

Carbon neutral fund = low carbon investment strategy + carbon offsetting

Very few companies are carbon neutral, so we can't create a carbon neutral investment strategy today. That's why the Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds not only follow a low carbon investment strategy, but also use carbon offsetting to further reduce the carbon footprint of your money.

illustration 39 tons of carbon emissions

Traditional investment strategies
39 tons of financed carbon emissions¹

Traditional investment strategies don’t factor climate change into their equation. Or at least not as much as the Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds do.

The Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds take climate change seriously and act.

Low carbon investment strategy
8 tons of financed carbon emissions before carbon offsetting²

The Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds' investment strategy focuses on low carbon companies and leaders in clean technology.

But they don’t stop here.

Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds
0 tons of financed carbon emissions after carbon offsetting³

The companies you invest in still create 8 tons of carbon emissions, but these carbon emissions are offset to provide you with a carbon neutral fund.

Let’s make a positive impact together.

Please see the ‘Key risks’ section for further information on the risks related to carbon offsetting.

The CO2-equivalent emissions numbers presented above are based on the Zurich Carbon Neutral World Equity Fund. The emissions numbers for the other Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds can be found on the respective product pages (see section ‘Our Carbon Neutral Fund range’).
¹ The companies you invest in with traditional investment strategies create 39 metric tons of scope 1+2 CO2-equivalent emissions per year per million dollars invested when measuring emissions with the help of a broad global equity index (MSCI World Index). Estimated data as of 31.03.2024. Source: MSCI.
² The companies you invest in with the fund’s low carbon investmentstrategy create 8 metric tons of scope 1+2 CO2-equivalent emissions per year per million dollars invested by seeking to align with the climate goals of the Paris Agreement with the help of an EU Paris-Aligned global equity index (MSCI World Climate Paris Aligned Ex Select Business Involvement Screens Index). Estimated data as of 31.03.2024. Source: MSCI.
³ After carbon offsetting, the companies you invest in with low carbon investment strategies still create 8 metric tons of scope 1+2 CO2-equivalent emissions per year per million dollars invested, but these financed emissions are being compensated for. The carbon offsetting is currently achieved by contributing to the Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve Project. Estimated data as of 31.03.2024. Source: MSCI.

The key principles to the low carbon investment strategy

Alignment with 1.5°C goal

by substantially reducing the funds' carbon footprint over time

Focus on clean technology companies

away from investments in fossil fuel-linked companies towards the solutions needed to tackle climate change

Exclusion of controversial businesses

to rule out investments in companies engaging in activities the funds prefer not to support even if they are low carbon¹

¹ The benchmark indexes of the Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds are periodically reviewed and rebalanced. As a result, there may be smaller exposures to companies classified as controversial businesses between index rebalancing dates.

The Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds achieve alignment by using an EU Paris-Aligned Benchmark Index. This is a broad market index which has been specifically adapted to create a portfolio of companies which is aligned with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement, primarily by reducing the carbon emissions intensity of the index over time (with year-on-year self-decarbonization at a 10 percent rate). For more information please see: https://www.msci.com/our-solutions/esg-investing/esg-indexes/climate-paris-aligned-indexes

In addition to the EU Paris-Aligned Benchmarks minimum requirements, the Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds place a strong focus on ‘green opportunities’ i.e. the businesses pioneering the clean technology solutions needed to tackle climate change. These companies derive large parts of their revenues from environmentally beneficial products and services. The applicable MSCI business categories are: alternative energy, energy efficiency, green building, pollution prevention, and sustainable water & agriculture. When putting things into practice, the Zurich Carbon Neutral World Equity Fund aims to be fully aligned with the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures) recommendations on metrics, targets and transition plans.

There are some companies the Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds prefer not to invest in because their products or services have negative social or environmental impacts. Primarily, these are companies involved in the following businesses: nuclear weapons, controversial weapons and tobacco. For controversial sectors, such as conventional weapons, alcohol, gambling or nuclear power, the Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds have strict investment thresholds.

More information on the carbon offsetting mechanism

Carbon offsetting means that the Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds compensate the carbon emissions they finance with their investments¹. From a technical perspective, this is done by purchasing carbon credits (or Verified Emission Reduction Certificates) from carbon offsetting partners that run projects helping to mitigate climate change.

Here is how it works in detail:

First, the fund’s financed carbon footprint is estimated:

Every month, MSCI tracks the carbon emissions of the companies that the fund invests in
At year end, the carbon footprint of the funds is estimated relative to the value invested based on the emissions data provided by MSCI

Then we offset:

We purchase the equivalent number of Verified Emission Reduction Certificates from our carbon offsetting partner
We cancel the certificates so that they can never be used again

While ensuring transparency:

All the information necessary to verify the carbon offsetting calculations and a proof of VER cancellation is published in the funds' annual report (as part of the SFDR periodic disclosures)

¹ The Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds offer share classes with both scope 1+2 and scope 1+2+3 carbon offsetting. For more information, please refer to the Prospectus and the Supplement of each fund.

More information on our carbon offsetting partners

To reach the Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds' goal of being carbon neutral, Zurich currently partners with the Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve Project (Rimba Raya), Trees for Global Benefits (an initiative of ECOTRUST) and the Delta Blue Carbon Project on carbon offsetting.

Ecotrust logo Delta Blue Carbon logo

Rimba Raya, located on the island of Borneo in Indonesia, is a living example of an economically viable alternative to deforestation by the palm oil industry – protecting forest lands that are legally authorized and documented to be converted to non-forest land.

Trees for Global Benefits is a cooperative carbon offsetting scheme for farmers in Uganda. The project aims to achieve long-term emission reductions by combining carbon sequestration with improvements in rural livelihoods.

The Delta Blue Carbon Project on the southeast coast of Pakistan is pioneering climate change mitigation through the protection, restoration and sustainable management of mangrove forests in partnership with the Government of Sindh.

Find out more about Rimba Raya

Find out more about Trees for Global Benefits

Find out more about Delta Blue Carbon

Key risks

There is no guarantee that the Funds' attempt to offset their estimated carbon footprints will be achieved. The actual carbon footprint of the portfolio of investments of the Fund may therefore be higher or lower than the estimated carbon footprint due to circumstances beyond control of Zurich Invest ICAV or its delegates. Attention is drawn to the risk that the value of the principal invested in the Fund may fluctuate.

The SFDR (meaning Regulation 2019/2088 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019) has been subject to a phased implementation process, which commenced on 10 March 2021 and imposes additional disclosure obligations on financial market participants. As additional information becomes available, and as further guidance is issued by the Central Bank and the European Supervisory Authorities in this regard, such SFDR related disclosures in this Supplement, the Fund's marketing materials and in website disclosure in respect of the Fund and/or the classification of the Fund as an Article 8 fund under SFDR may be subject to change and in such event, will be updated accordingly.

The Fund may invest in financial derivative instruments to hedge against risk and/or to increase return. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s use of derivatives for either purpose will be successful. Derivatives are subject to various risks including but not limited to counterparty risk (including potential loss of instruments), liquidity risk, correlation risk and legal risk and are highly sensitive to underlying price movements, interest rates and market volatility and therefore come with a greater risk than directly investing in the underlying securities themselves.

Transaction costs and other fees and expenses to be borne by the Fund and exchange rate factors where the underlying equities are denominated in a different currency to the Fund's base currency or currency of any class of shares are likely to affect the ability of a Fund to track the performance of the Index.

ADRs and GDRs do not always perform in line with the underlying security and there is no guarantee that a similar outcome will be achieved to that if it were possible to hold the securities directly. In the event of the suspension or closure of a market(s) on which the underlying securities are traded, there is a risk that the value of the ADR/GDR will not closely reflect the value of the relevant underlying securities. Additionally, there may be some circumstances where the Fund's investment manager cannot, or it is not appropriate to, invest in an ADR or GDR, or the characteristics of the ADR or GDR do not exactly reflect the underlying security.

Changes in the exchange rate between the base currency and such denominated currency of an unhedged currency share class may lead to a depreciation of the value of such shares as expressed in the denominated currency. Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the currencies of the Fund's underlying assets and the currency of a share class may lead to currency risk for the holders of shares in the relevant class. Shareholders of hedged share classes should be aware that they may be substantially limited from benefiting if the denominated currency rises against the base currency.

For more information on the risks associated with the Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds, please see the section entitled ‘Risks Factors’ in the Prospectus of the ICAV.

Glossary

AuM	Assets under management.
Benchmark index	An index that can be used by an investment fund as the basis of comparison for assessing the performance achieved.
Carbon footprint	Total CO2-equivalent financed emissions in metric tons per year per million dollars invested. The CO2-equivalent carbon intensity (emissions per million dollars invested) is calculated based on EVIC (Enterprise Value including Cash).
Carbon offsetting	Funding a reduction or removal of CO2-equivalent emissions to compensate for the carbon emissions associated with a particular activity (e.g., operating a business).
Clean technology (‘green’) companies	Aggregate exposure to companies that derive 20% or more revenue from alternative energy, energy efficiency, green building, pollution prevention, or sustainable water (MSCI clean technology themes).
Controversial business involvement	Aggregate exposure to companies with any ties to controversial weapons, companies engaged in civilian firearms activities, companies with any ties to nuclear weapons, companies flagged for involvement in tobacco, companies engaged in the production, distribution and retail of adult entertainment materials, companies engaged in the production, distribution, retail and supply of alcohol-related products, companies producing conventional weapons and components, companies engaged in gambling-related business activities, companies deriving 5% or more revenue from Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) activities, companies engaged in nuclear power activities, companies with evidence of owning proven and probable coal reserves and/or proven oil and natural gas reserves used for energy purposes, companies deriving any revenue from thermal coal mining or unconventional oil and gas extraction, and companies deriving 5% or more revenue from thermal coal-based power generation.
Fossil fuel sector (‘brown’) companies	Aggregate exposure to companies that derive any revenues from (i) the exploration, mining, extraction, distribution or refining of hard coal and lignite; (ii) the exploration, extraction, distribution (including transportation, storage and trade) or refining of liquid fossil fuels; and (iii) exploring and extracting fossil gaseous fuels or from their dedicated distribution (including transportation, storage and trade).
MSCI World Index	The MSCI World Index captures large and mid-cap representation across 23 developed markets countries. The Index covers approximately 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization in each country.
MSCI World Climate Paris Aligned Ex Select Business Involvement Screens Index	The Index is designed to support investors seeking to reduce their exposure to transition and physical climate risks and who wish to pursue opportunities arising from the transition to a lower-carbon economy while aligning with the Paris Agreement requirements. The Index is designed to exceed the minimum standards of the EU Paris-Aligned Benchmark. Additionally, the Index applies certain values-based exclusion criteria. The Index is constructed from the MSCI World Index (‘Parent Index’) following an optimization-based approach.
Paris Agreement	The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at the 21st UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris on December 12, 2015 and entered into force on November 4, 2016.
(Share of) EU taxonomy-aligned investments	Percentage allocation to investments defined as environmentally sustainable under Article 2, point (1) EU Taxonomy Regulation (meaning Regulation 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 18, 2020).
(Share of) sustainable investments	Percentage allocation to investments defined as sustainable under Article 2, point (17) SFDR (meaning Regulation 2019/2088 of the European Parliament and of the Council of November 27, 2019).
Verified Emission Reduction Certificates	Carbon credits generated by carbon offset projects that have been developed according to internationally recognized standards. A carbon credit corresponds to an avoidance, or a removal of one metric ton of CO2-equivalent emissions.

Investment decisions should only be made after a thorough reading of the current versions of the prospectus of the Zurich Invest ICAV, the supplement of the Zurich Carbon Neutral World Equity Fund and the latest key investor information document ('KIID') available at www.carnegroup.com/zurich.

For Swiss investors: The representative in Switzerland is FIRST INDEPENDENT FUND SERVICES AG, Zürich. The paying agent in Switzerland is NPB Neue Privat Bank AG, Zürich.

For German investors: The role of Information agent in Germany in accordance with section 309 para. 2 of the German Investment Code is undertaken by Zürich (Deutschland), Solmsstraße 27-37, 60486 Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland.

For Austrian investors: The Zurich Invest ICAV has appointed Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG as its domestic paying and information agent under section 141(1) InvFG, Official Gazette no 2011/77. The Zurich Invest ICAV has also appointed Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG as its tax agent. The details of the paying agent and tax agent are as follows: Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG - Am Belvedere 1, 1100 Wien, Austria.

Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds

Why invest in the Zurich Carbon Neutral Funds?