Global asset management firm Franklin Templeton is launching two new sustainable, thematic exchange-traded funds (ETFs), namely the Franklin Future of Food UCITS ETF and Franklin Future of Health and Wellness UCITS ETF. These additions bring the number of thematic ETFs in Franklin Templeton’s range to three and the number of Article 8–compliant ETFs under EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation to ten. “These new Article 8 ETFs take a multi-dimensional investment approach to stock selection in that they leverage long-term societal shifts resulting from macroeconomic, geopolitical, and technological developments,” said Dina Ting, Head of Global Index Portfolio Management at Franklin Templeton. These shifts include the projected increase in global population by two billion to nearly 10 billion by 2050, necessitating a 60% growth in food production, and the expected growth of the wellness market from US$4.4 trillion in 2020 to US$6.8 trillion by 2030. The Franklin Future of Food UCITS ETF and Franklin Future of Health and Wellness UCITS ETF track the performance of the Solactive Sustainable Food Index and Solactive Sustainable Health and Wellness Index, respectively. The new ETFs are set to be listed on Deutsche Börse Xetra on 6 July, the London Stock Exchange on 7 July, and the Borsa Italiana on 18 July. They are registered in several European countries and will be managed by Ting and Lorenzo Crosato, ETF Portfolio Manager at Franklin Templeton.
