SYDNEY – Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, and Future Super, Australia’s first fossil fuel-free superannuation fund, today announced the launch of two ‘first-of-a-kind’ indices, the ‘Thomson Reuters/Future Super Australia Fossil Free Index’ and ‘Thomson Reuters/Future Super Australia Sustainable Leaders Index’. For the first time in Australia, investors can gain improved access and investment transparency to companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) considered to be fossil-fuel free and superior in environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices.

The Thomson Reuters/Future Super Australia Sustainable Leaders Index will also be the first index in Australia which incorporates a strict negative screening on direct and indirect fossil fuels in addition to traditional ESG scoring. It provides both institutional and retail investors in Australia access to an index of the 50 leading medium to large sustainable ASX-listed companies.

With the global sustainable investment market growing substantially^[1], both Indices aim to serve the growing demand from ethically-minded retail and institutional investors interested in potentially higher returns and lower risks evidenced in some ESG investing-based studies^[2].

The launch coincides with the first anniversary of fossil fuel free super fund Future Super.

“In the 12 months since launching Future Super, over AU$80million of superannuation savings have been diverted to a fossil fuel free investment strategy”, said Simon Sheikh, Managing Director of Future Super.

“We expect demand for fossil fuel free investing to increase in the next 12 months. While a consistent stream of research has been releasing pointing to the poor recent performance of fossil fuel exposed companies, our fossil fuel free indices will provide potential investors with a day by day analysis of the performance of this investment strategy.”

“At a time when ESG investing around the world gains momentum, we’re excited to be partnering with Future Super to raise awareness of the performance of fossil fuel-free companies and to provide investors with a mechanism to invest ‘responsibly’ in fossil-fuel free and ethical portfolios” said Stephan Flagel, Head of Indices at Thomson Reuters. “With increased pressure to deliver low cost and transparent investment services for Australian investors, we are working with a number of clients such as Future Super to assist in the development of their investment strategies.”

Both indices are based on the Thomson Reuters Australia Index, a market capitalization weighted stock of approximately 300 companies listed on the ASX. Companies are screened according to a proprietary Future Super research process, which includes Thomson Reuters ESG services as a primary data source, amongst others.

The indices will complement Thomson Reuters ESG services, consisting of KPIs for over 4,000 companies globally, and also be available on Thomson Reuters Eikon, the company’s flagship financial desktop and mobile solution used for consuming news, reports and real-time and historical financial data connecting global markets and financial community.

Thomson Reuters is a trusted, global provider of indices and index services, calculating over 10,000 different equity, fixed income, and commodity indices. Thomson Reuters provides innovative indices and index-related services to the global financial community to help investors make better decisions. Thomson Reuters index clients and partners rely upon Thomson Reuters premier global network and vast data and content sets. Backed by the content, data, independence and global information network of Thomson Reuters, its indices and index services are designed to suit clients’ need. 

Future Super

Future Super is Australia's first and only fossil fuel free superannuation fund. Future Super's investment strategy is to select companies that provide competitive financial returns and have a positive impact on the environment and society. This includes avoiding all companies directly involved in coal, oil and gas, as well as companies that provide support to the fossil fuel industry. Future Super believes that we can't prevent climate change if we continue to invest in it. Since its launch in September 2014, Future Super has helped over 3000 members collectively shift over $80 million away from fossil fuel exposed super funds. To find out more visit www.myfuturesuper.com.au.

Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial and risk, legal, tax and accounting, intellectual property and science and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges. For more information, go to thomsonreuters.com.

[1] Global Sustainable Investment Review Report 2014

[2] Future Super’s Fossil Fuel Free ESG Investing report, September 2015