Despite misgivings, Article 8 funds have been found to start earning positive returns earlier in the cycle than Article 6 funds do, according to a report from INTREAL Solutions and the International Real Estate Business School (IREBS) at the University of Regensburg.
Under the SFDR, Article 8 funds are described as promoting environmental or social characteristics, “or a combination of those characteristics, provided that the companies in which the investments are made follow good governance practices.” Article 6 funds require that financial market participants include in their pre-contractual disclosures “descriptions of the manner in which sustainability risks are integrated into their investment decisions and the results of the assessment of the likely impacts of sustainability risks on the returns of the financial products they make available.”
INTREAL and IREBS conducted a performance analysis of 26 Article 6 funds and 10 Article 8 funds and found Article
