As for the dynamic between the PIRGs and Green Century, Samuelrich says her company works with the PIRGs mostly in shareholder advocacy on issues ranging from antibiotics in food to deforestation, where the PIRGs run the grassroots campaign and Green Century files shareholder resolutions.
Samuelrich notes that retail investors make up about half of the two funds’ client base. Other core customers include financial advisors who want to get into this space or are already there, and wirehouses that are responding to the growing demand for ESG investments.
The Green Century Equity Fund is three-star-rated by Morningstar and has slightly underperformed the S&P 500 during most milepost periods from the past 10 years. The Green Century Balanced Fund is four-star-rated and has bested its benchmark during the past three years, but also has underperformed over a 10-year period.
“Our goal is to deliver competitive returns and to also have the added value of making the companies less open to risk because of their environmental track record, with the additional part of delivering environmental policies that are good for society,” Samuelrich says.