Investment Week is launching the inaugural Climate Change Investment Awards in conjunction with IFA Holden & Partners.
The winners, in each of the six categories, will be announced at an awards ceremony held in the House of Commons on 25 November.
In order to qualify as a Climate Change Investment Fund, more than 50% of the portfolio needs to be invested in environmental stocks as at 30 June.
Peter Holden, founder of Holden & Partners, said: "The continued growth in the number of climate change funds and other investment vehicles and the steady rise in assets invested proves that this area is truly an asset class in its own right.
"The focus of the awards is not investment performance because many of the funds have only been running a short amount of time. But we believe this is an area where TCF is particularly relevant - do investors really understand what they are investing in and are fund manager groups communicating this clearly?"
There are six categories for the best:
1) Private Client Portfolio Manager: Open to private client stockbrokers, wealth managers, discretionary portfolios advisers, investment advisers, family offices and private banks.
2) Fund Management Group: Open to any fund management group with at least one investment fund in any or all of the individual fund categories.
3) Best Climate Change Fund: Open to all mutual funds with at least 50% of the portfolio in climate change-type investments or companies involved in the climate change debate.
4) Innovation in Climate Change Investment: Open to non-mutual fund investments such as EIS, VCTs, Aim-listed companies, structured products, unlisted investment companies, ETFs, new indices.
5) Alternative Energy Fund (> 50% in alternative energy): Open to mutual funds which invest at least 50% in their portfolio in alternative energy sources or companies involved in the alternative energy processes.
6) Water, Food, Agriculture & Forestry fund (>50% in any one category): Open to mutual funds which invest at least 50% in their portfolio in water, food, agriculture and timber or companies/businesses involved in these sectors.
The judging panel consists of Bill McGuire, professor of geophysical hazards at University College London, Peter Holden and Mark Hoskins, of Holden & Partners, James Murray, editor of BusinessGreen, Martin Fox, consultant to Pure Trust, the carbon offsetting charity, and Lawrence Gosling, editorial director of Investment Week.
If you have any questions, contact Bertie Speirs on 020 7812 1460 or by email: bspeirs@holden-partners.co.uk .
