Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are booming, synthetic ETFs are re-surfacing and semi-transparent ETFs have recently emerged – but their structures hide entrenched deforestation risk from investors. Planet Tracker identifies the key decision makers for each instrument in the growing ETF universe and calls for specific actions from index providers, ETF sponsors and investors to eliminate hidden deforestation risk in their holdings or indices.

Planet Tracker’s benchmark analysis of 37 funds in the food and agriculture sectors demonstrates that asset managers need to understand that, for their food and agriculture equity funds to be successful, they must measure, manage and monitor the natural capital risks in their investments by aligning these with sustainable food and agriculture systems to improve investment performance.