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June 21, 2006
Canadian SRI Funds Perform On Par with Mainstream Funds
by Bill Baue
A survey of Canadian socially responsible investing funds finds a broad range of rigorousness in
assessing corporate social and environmental sustainability.
SocialFunds.com --
Earlier this month, Toronto-based Corporate Knights magazine released its survey of 54 Canadian
socially responsible investing (SRI) mutual funds, ranking the 43 funds with more than a one-year
history. The survey ranks the funds on a 100-point scale, basing half of the score on the strength
of their social and environmental practices, and the other half of the score on one- and three-year
financial performance. Top-ranking funds include the Ethical Canadian Dividend Fund (94),
Dejardins Environment Fund (84), Inhance Balanced Fund (82), and Ethical Special Equity Fund (80).
 Corporate Knights initiated the
survey three years ago with a dual purpose: first, to test the assumption that SRI automatically
underperforms, and second, to differentiate funds calling themselves SRI.
"Some people
didn't like the idea of investing in SRI because they thought it would automatically lower their
returns due to reducing the investable universe," Corporate Knights Editor Toby Heaps told
SocialFunds.com.
This year's survey debunks this assumption. It finds that three-quarters
of the SRI funds surveyed outperformed the broader universe of about 3,800 Canadian funds on a
one-year basis as of March 31, 2006, according to the Fund Library Research Group and Funddata
Canada. The analysis compared SRI funds to their peers in the same sub-asset class--for example,
SRI special equity funds to the roughly 120 special equity funds in the broader Canadian fund
market, according to Mr. Heaps.
"On a three-year basis, exactly half the socially
responsible mutual funds outperformed their peers and half underperformed, indicating that over
time socially responsible mutual funds perform no better or worse than the average fund," said Mr.
Heaps.
As for the second purpose, the Corporate Knights survey seeks to give social
investors a sense of the range of rigorousness and commitment to social and environmental
sustainability of the various funds labeled SRI.
"In Canada, the definition for socially
responsible investment products is that it's just called one in its prospectus, so lumping all SRI
funds into one basket isn't really a fair characterization," said Mr. Heaps. "Our survey is meant
to give a good indication of who's got their ducks in a row versus who doesn't have any kind of
systematic approach at all to social responsibility."
The 100-point Corporate
Knights Social Score assesses such areas as integration of environmental, social, and
governance (ESG) factors into research; community investment; proxy voting transparency; and
engagement with companies. The Mavrix Sierra Equity Fund scored a mere 7 points, while the Inhance
Balanced Fund scored 96. However, Mr. Heaps admits limitations in the survey's tick-box
methodology.
"A company like Inhance, which has gone through significant transition from
its former incarnation as Real Assets, has a lot less resources than Ethical Funds, which
justifiably considers itself the leading SRI fund company in Canada and has a whole team of
analysts and engagers," explained Mr. Heaps. "Inhance's scale of engagement is maybe one-tenth of
the scale of a firm such as Ethical Funds, but Inhance can still tick the engagement box because it
does do it."
"It's an unfortunate byproduct of any survey where the criteria don't
perfectly reflect reality," he added.
Concurrent with its release of the survey results,
Corporate Knights published an article by Globe and
Mail personal finance columnist Rob Carrick. Mr. Carrick advances the Paul Hawken line of
criticism that SRI fund holdings do not differ significantly from the broader universe of funds.
He cites one example--the Ethical Canadian Index Fund, whose top 10 holdings as of November 30,
2005 overlapped with seven of the top 10 holdings of the RBC Canadian Equity Fund, a generic bank
mutual fund.
"Carrick made his case not by an exhaustive study," said Mr. Heaps. "And
obviously, he missed the whole engagement aspect."
"The Canadian SRI mindset, led by
Ethical Funds, is that social change will come about by engagement as opposed to screening, which
is not as de rigeur for SRI credibility in Canada as in the US," Mr. Heaps pointed out.
"For example, Ethical Funds invests in a lot of companies with questionable human rights records
because they feel they can engage with them to create change."
This distinction is driven
in part by the differences in the market landscape between the US, where the S&P 500 is filled with
traditional sin stocks that fail SRI screens, and Canada, where the TSX 60 has a relative dearth of
sin stocks.
"The fact is you're not going to save the world with Canadian SRI--you're not
investing in Mother Theresa's convent," said Mr. Heaps. "You're investing in more or less the same
companies as everyone else--but, you're supporting SRI firms that will engage with companies and
bring to light issues they might not otherwise consider, such as human rights and climate change."
"Engagement by the leading Canadian SRI firms helps companies understand these issues from
more of a long-term, fiduciary perspective, and hopefully inspires them to take action," Mr. Heaps
concluded.
Disclosure: Bill Baue wrote an article published in the most recent
edition of Corporate Knights.
©
SRI World Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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