Beyond Investing says investing $1 million in its vegan fund would indirectly spare 13,000 animals in a year.
Photo:
James MacDonald/Bloomberg News
Sept. 12, 2019 3:17 pm ET
First there was
Beyond Meat
.
Now there is Beyond Investing.
The investment adviser launched a vegan ETF this week that looks remarkably like an index fund, costs a good bit more and will even bleed realistically in a bear market. But it delivers certain intangibles: Beyond Investing explains in a news release that, “until now, vegans and environmentalists have had little choice but to profit from animal cruelty and environmental devastation through their investment options.” The fund excludes the fossil-fuel industry, companies that test on animals and other activities anathema to environmentally conscious vegans. But its biggest holdings aren’t exactly exotic, with
Microsoft
,
Apple
and
making up the top three. The firm calculates, through some convoluted measurements, that investing $1 million in the fund would indirectly spare 13,000 animals in a year. Of course not investing in a company’s shares doesn’t alter its practices. On the other hand, one could invest in a far cheaper index fund and, as long as one didn’t spend the money saved on pricey meat substitutes, donate it to an animal welfare charity rather than a financial firm.
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