Research firm Morningstar has responded to growing investor concerns about environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues by launching a set of indices focused on sustainability.
The Morningstar Sustainability Index Series seeks to deliver exposure to companies which "exhibit high standards of sustainability while maintaining a risk/return profile similar to the broad market", the company said.
"As the trend of ESG investing continues, Morningstar's new index family will help investors, advisers and asset managers track the sustainability of their investments and shape investment strategies that leverage emerging research on ESG-based issues worldwide," Morningstar added.
A set of around 25 indices will cover broad regional markets, developed markets, emerging markets and single-country exposure.
The benchmarks will also draw on Morningstar's sustainability rating tool, which looks to help investors evaluate certain funds based on how well their holdings are managing ESG "risks and opportunities".
This is not the first time this year an index provider has responded to a growing segment of the market focused on ESG, sustainability and 'green' issues.
In June, FTSE Russell launched a data model aiming to track the green revenues of some 13,400 public companies.
