Zeus: The Christmas lesson behind a sustainable fund massacre

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By Trey Thoelcke Published
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Zeus: The Christmas lesson behind a sustainable fund massacre

© Julius Jansson / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

By David Callaway, Callaway Climate Insights

(David Callaway is founder and Editor-in-Chief of Callaway Climate Insights. He is the former president of the World Editors Forum, Editor-in-Chief of USA Today and MarketWatch, and CEO of TheStreet Inc.)

SAN FRANCISCO (Callaway Climate Insights) — In the 48 hours before Christmas just two weeks ago, one of Europe’s most well-known pension funds quietly pulled its assets out of what had been the second-largest sustainable emerging markets fund.

So quietly that the business media wasn’t on to the story for almost a week, but not quietly enough to muffle a key lesson for investors in certain sustainable funds.

The BlackRock iShares ESG MSCI EM Leaders ETF (LDEM) had launched with much fanfare in early 2020, just before Covid hit, including a $600 million launch investment from Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance, Finland’s oldest pension fund company. By the time Ilmarinen pulled the plug on its investment, the fund’s assets had grown to more than $800 million, through performance and other fund purchases by investors. . . .

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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