• Monthly trading volumes of ESG ETFs on Xetra reach €2.8 billion
• With more than 820 products, Xetra offers the largest selection of listed ESG ETFs in Europe
• Information offering based on the Sustainable Financial Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) supports investors in their ESG investment decisions

"For many investors, ESG ETFs are the way to go if they want to invest sustainably," says Stephan Kraus, responsible for the ETF & ETP segment at Deutsche Börse. "Since 2019, ESG ETFs have been achieving triple-digit growth rates. Most of the new ETFs currently offered on Xetra focus on sustainability."

ETF issuers in Europe are increasingly expanding their product range to include ESG ETFs. Currently, 29 ETF issuers offer sustainable products on Xetra, compared to 13 at the end of 2020. Among the 273 new ETFs on Xetra in 2022, 198 are ESG ETFs. A total of 2,000 ETFs are currently available to investors on Xetra, 820 of which are ESG ETFs. 

Assets under management for ESG ETFs listed on Xetra amounted to €236 billion at the end of 2022. This corresponds to an increase of 18 per cent compared to the same period last year. By contrast, assets under management in the entire ETF segment on Xetra actually fell by 6 percent in the same period.

An evaluation of the ESG products shows that investors are not at a disadvantage compared to all ETFs in the segment in terms of ongoing charges. At 0.28 per cent, the annual costs are on average even lower than those of the overall segment at 0.29 per cent.

New SFDR regulation creates transparency

ESG ETFs are also being boosted by the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), which came into force across the EU in March 2021. "The new standards for the classification of ESG products increase transparency for investors to make an informed investment decision. It requires issuers to disclose sustainability risks and provide detailed information on sustainability characteristics," explains Kraus. "We expect the demand for ESG ETFs to continue to grow in the coming years, both among institutional and private investors. Therefore, as the European market leader, we want to offer easy access to our continuously growing range of sustainable ETFs." 

For this purpose, Deutsche Börse has compiled all SFDR-compliant ESG ETFs at https://www.boerse-frankfurt.de/sustainabilities/etfs with further product information and current trading data. Sustainability-oriented investors can thus identify all the ETFs relevant to them at a glance and use them as a basis for their investment decisions. Based on the respective SFDR classification, investors can also see whether the ETF is a product that promotes environmental and social characteristics (Article 8) or one that targets sustainable investments (Article 9). 

ESG ETF tied for trading volume

With an average daily turnover of around €9 million last year, the iShares Global Clean Energy UCITS ETF (IE00B1XNHC34) was once again an ESG ETF among the top 10 of all ETFs listed on Xetra. In the first quarter of 2021, the product was even the most traded ETF - ahead of the traditional blue chip ETFs.

With an average monthly trading volume of currently €16 billion, Xetra is the European market leader in on-exchange ETF trading.

(as of August 2023)