Upright launches the first-ever open database on science-based impact of funds

Today, we at Upright are taking a significant step towards demystifying sustainable investing: We’ve launched the first-ever open database on the science-based impact of funds, offering professional and retail investors alike a deeper understanding of what funds actually get done in the real world. This new dataset gives anyone the power to explore the science-based impacts of 35,000+ mutual funds and ETFs, revealing the full picture of how these funds affect people, the planet, and society at large.

Why does this matter?

Most agree on the core promise of sustainable investing: to steer capital towards companies that contribute more to the world than they take. But the reality of sustainable investing is much less clear.

Despite the growing focus on sustainability regulations, ratings, and labels like SFDR’s Article 8 and 9, it’s not getting any easier to understand how fund holdings actually impact the world. In fact, it can feel like the more labelings there are around, the harder it becomes to see the big picture.

This is where Upright wants to accelerate change. Upright’s open database shares transparent, comparable, science-based data on the positive and negative impacts of fund holdings – and it’s available to everyone. This is not yet another ESG tool: we don’t focus on what awards each fund has won and what labels they qualify for. We double down on what the companies in the funds actually do as their core business and how that impacts the world around them.

What will you find?

For the first time, investors – both professional and retail – can drill down into the full positive and negative impacts of specific fund holdings and make meaningful comparisons across funds and asset classes. Professionals can benchmark their funds against peers, while everyday investors can see exactly what companies are in nearly any fund out there.

You may find some surprises, too: Take the much-vaunted “dark green” Article 9 funds – the EU’s gold standard for the most sustainable funds. Our analysis shows that 17% of these funds perform worse in impact than the average “light green” Article 8 fund. You might even discover industries like fast fashion, air travel, or alcohol in Article 9 funds.

This new transparency allows investors – professional and retail alike – to see and compare the full impact of funds, down to their individual holdings. It’s no longer about just following labels; it’s about understanding the real-world consequences of where capital is directed.

How did Upright do this?

So, how does Upright know something about fund impact that others don’t?

For the past seven years, Upright has been building the world’s most granular product-level data on company impact with the help of best available machine-learning technologies. Now, this data is being aggregated from company level to investment funds.

In practice, we produce data by using natural language processing (NLP) technologies to read a massive corpus of scientific articles, public databases from the likes of OECD, WHO and Eurostat, and company reporting. By integrating information from these sources, we map the data first to effectively all products and services traded in global markets to form an evidence-based understanding of their impact. Then, we extend this impact data first to companies, and ultimately to funds based on their holdings.

To learn more about Upright’s data model, explore:

• Upright's mission
• Upright's methodology documentation on our Knowledge Base

Who is this for?

For two groups especially: Asset managers and owners for professional use, and for retail interested in the real-world impact of their personal portfolio.

What's next?

After years of providing impact data directly to professional investors, today marks our first public release of this data, but it’s only the beginning. Throughout the rest of 2024, we’ll be rolling out new tools and datasets, such as insights into PE/VC funds, further pushing for transparency in sustainable investing. Stay tuned!