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ESG investing at Hargreaves Lansdown as of October 2023
If you're investing for the long-term and can afford to look beyond simple profits and fees, ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) investing is a great way to contribute to a more sustainable future.
Hargreaves Lansdown has some ESG-focused products and tools on offer, but maybe not the best on the market. See below if you can find a better alternative.
I've thoroughly tested Hargreaves Lansdown services with our analyst team by opening a real-money account and these are my most important findings:
- ESG investing focuses on companies' environmental and social practices and impact
- Hargreaves Lansdown offers a decent number of ESG-themed assets to invest in
- Hargreaves Lansdown provides OK tools to find and learn about ESG investments
|
Overall score
|
4.5 stars |
|---|---|
|
ESG score
|
2.8 stars |
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ESG research quality
|
Poor |
|
ESG ETFs
|
100 |
|
ESG funds
|
270 |
|
ESG education quality
|
Mid-range |
Data updated on October 10, 2023
What is ESG investing?
Are you a long-term investor? Then you probably care deeply about what the world will look like in 20 or 30 years. If you want to help bring about a future that is environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive - and can afford to set aside some or all of your savings for this purpose - we suggest you turn your attention to ESG investing.
What is ESG investing? It is an increasingly popular investment trend that involves taking into account environmental, social and corporate governance factors when deciding what sectors or companies to invest in.
- Environmental criteria include companies' contribution to (or its efforts to prevent) climate change, pollution or biodiversity loss
- Social criteria focus on treating employees, customers and suppliers fairly; involvement in armed conflict or humanitarian crises; or efforts to tackle public health issues such as those related to smoking or alcohol consumption
- Corporate governance criteria involve transparency, protecting shareholders' rights, and leadership quality
The good news is that returns on ESG-focused investments are not necessarily inferior to those on non-ESG investments, although fees may be higher.
If you need more information, read our comprehensive introduction to ESG investing, or check out some helpful ESG investing strategies.
ESG assets at Hargreaves Lansdown
You can always make your own judgment whether a specific stock is ESG-compatible, but ESG investing is easiest via special ESG-themed ETFs (exchange-traded funds) or mutual funds. These are often special versions of popular index funds (such as those tracking the S&P 500) that give a larger weight to ESG-friendly stocks within the index or drop companies that engage in environmentally or socially harmful practices.
Here's what Hargreaves Lansdown and its closest competitors have to offer when it comes to ESG-themed instruments:
|
ESG ETFs
|
100 | 210 | 370 |
|---|---|---|---|
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ESG funds
|
270 | 220 | 350 |
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Stock and ETF fee scores
|
2.2 stars | 3.9 stars | 2.6 stars |
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Mutual fund fee scores
|
5.0 stars | 4.3 stars | 4.7 stars |
Data updated on October 10, 2023
ESG tools at Hargreaves Lansdown
How can you tell if a stock has a good ESG record? Some brokers have great screeners that help you find the best ESG stocks among the thousands of stocks out there. Short of that, a good search function on your broker's trading platform can help you find ESG-themed ETFs or mutual funds. Some brokers also offer educational articles or webinars on ESG investing.
Here's how we rated these tools at Hargreaves Lansdown and some of its immediate competitors:
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ESG research quality
|
Poor | Mid-range | - |
|---|---|---|---|
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ESG education quality
|
Mid-range | Great | Mid-range |
Data updated on October 10, 2023
Best brokers for ESG investing
Do you want to zoom out and pick the best broker for long-term investment based on a full set of criteria including fees, trading platform experience and product selection? Look no further than our list of the best brokers for ESG investing.
Check out this short video for a behind-the-scenes peek into how our experts personally test and evaluate brokers.
Further reading
- Diversifying your investments
- Hargreaves Lansdown stock conditions as of July 2023 explained
- Hargreaves Lansdown penny stocks trading conditions explained as of July 2023
- Hargreaves Lansdown bond availability as of September 2023
- Hargreaves Lansdown ETF trading explained July 2023
- Hargreaves Lansdown fractional shares trading conditions explained as of July 2023
- Hargreaves Lansdown cash interest rate as of September 2023
- Hargreaves Lansdown invest $100,000 as of July 2023
- Hargreaves Lansdown IPO accessibility
- Hargreaves Lansdown Mexican stocks trading availability October 2023
- Hargreaves Lansdown US stock trading details October 2023
