Virgin Climate Change Fund - The fund that puts performance first, but doesn't forget the planet

Virgin Climate Change Fund - The fund that puts performance first, but doesn't forget the planet

Fund information

A compelling investment opportunity
We believe our approach will maximise potential returns and offer your clients the opportunity to capitalise on changing industry conditions while feeling ‘good’ about their investment.

Fund objective
The fund aims to provide market-leading returns by investing in select companies who are driving outstanding profit growth and are environmental leaders in their industry. It’s different to other environmental-focussed funds.

Our investment strategy
We take a three-layered approach in deciding which companies to invest in.

Where your money is invested - 75%-100% in lighter footprint companies: We apply what we call a 'green filter' to those companies already selected for GLG' flasgship European Equity Fund. This screens out the companies with a heavier environmental footprint. Up to 15% in solution adopters: Companies taking a lead in their industries, actively adopting environmental best practice and seeking to minimize their environmental footprints. Up to 10% in solutions providers: Companies developing, manufacturing and providing innovative products and solutions to environmental problems. Investing in these stocks can be riskier which is why they only make up the smallest proportion of the fund.

Fund information

The following case studies are illustrative and there is no guarantee they will be held in the Virgin Climate Change Fund at any given time.


Typical case studies

Lighter footprint companies - BG Group
Formerly British Gas, BG Group operate in the lucrative power sector, where gas is the lowest carbon fossil fuel, with 22% less carbon than oil and 40% less than coal. It converts to energy more efficiently than other fossil fuels and has made a significant contribution to UK climate change targets, delivering 48 million tonnes CO2 reduction from 1990-98 alone.

BG’s operations are best in class compared to its competitors in terms of quality and returns. With ambitious plans and projects in the pipeline we are looking for double digit growth from BG Group over the next few years.


Solution adopters - ABB
ABB Group are among the world's foremost engineering companies. By working with electricity companies worldwide, they are helping to reduce electricity loss and increase efficiency.

As prices for electricity increase and supplier efficiency becomes increasingly important, ABB Group are perfectly positioned to deliver real profit in this market.


Solution providers - Ceres Power
Ceres Power operates in the largest commercial market for fuel cell technology – Combined Heat and Power boilers for homes. The environmental benefits include low-to-zero emissions.

With over 30 million boilers sold worldwide each year, Ceres Power is in a market potentially worth £50 billion a year. They have partnerships with Calor Gas, EDF Energy Networks and British Gas.

The future looks bright as the demand for CHP boilers increases. British Gas estimate that by 2020, 30% of all boiler replacements could be CHP.

Fund information

How the green filter works

The green filter is used to review the environmental footprint of each of the high performing companies considered to be part of the fund. These lighter footprint stocks make up 75-100% of the Fund.

The fund management team work closely with Trucost, a leading world authority who assess over 700 factors to work out a company’s ‘footprint’.

This is then shown as a percentage of a company’s value, as in the example below:

Footprint example


If we compare all companies in an industry sector using this kind of analysis, it allows us to rank them in order from low footprint to high footprint. For a company to be admitted to the Climate Change Fund, it has to have a footprint in the top half of the list for it's industry.