How it works
Getting started, methodology, and fossil fuel company lists
Fossil Free Funds sources financial data from Morningstar, an investment research company. We use Morningstar’s mutual fund and stock data to analyze funds and find investments in fossil fuel companies. Our database covers thousands of the most popular mutual funds, the type of investments most common in retirement plans like employer-offered 401(k)s.
Getting started
Finding your funds
We source data on companies and mutual funds from financial services provider Morningstar. Our database covers thousands of U.S. open-end mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), some of the most common funds held in 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and other retirement plans.
Search for funds by name, ticker, or asset manager. Use the search bar below, or use the search page to do more advanced searches, such as filtering funds by investing style or asset manager. When you find a fund you're looking for, click it to see the full results.
We don't have everything in our database — we only analyze U.S. mutual funds and ETFs that are at least 50% invested in stock holdings, and our data license restricts us to displaying only a few thousand portfolios.
Looking for your favorite fund and can’t find it? With more resources, we could include more funds — make a gift today to make a difference.
Fossil fuel companies
Tracking fossil fuel stocks
Our analysis checks funds for direct stock investments in fossil fuel companies. This list includes several sub-categories: top owners of carbon reserves, coal industry, oil/gas industry, top coal-fired utilities, and fossil-fired utilities.
Two of these sub-categories are considered higher risk: top owners of carbon reserves, and top coal-fired utilities. Investment in these companies automatically earns a fund a fossil fuel grade of C or lower.
Mutual fund grades
Calculating exposure to fossil fuel companies
Mutual funds can have a varying number of holdings, from less than one hundred to several thousand. For each fund, we calculate the total number, dollar amount, and percentage of the fund’s assets that are invested in those companies.
We only look for direct stock holdings in fossil fuel companies. That means that holdings that are not stocks, like cash holdings or bonds, are not rated. In the fund's investment profile, we show a "Percent Rated" metric, equivalent to the percent of the fund that is invested in stocks. The higher a fund’s Percent Rated value, the more holdings we were able to examine. A fund with a lower Percent Rated value may have hidden fossil fuel-related investments that our tool cannot account for, in the form of bond holdings or other asset types.
Banks and insurance: fossil fuel financial services
Fossil Free Funds now incorporates fossil finance into our fossil fuel ratings.
By continuing to finance and underwrite fossil fuels, banks and insurance companies are not only responsible for exacerbating climate impacts, but they are also exposing investors to financial risk.
Our new fund ratings use data on bank lending and insurance company policies to assess portfolio exposure to finance-industry climate risk.
Learn more about our new fossil fuel finance and fossil fuel insurance ratings
Fossil fuel grades
Based on the fund's fossil fuel exposure, it earns one of five grades.
Details on fossil fuel exposure
Along with the fossil fuel grade, we show details on the fund portfolio's flagged holdings.
The number of flagged holdings, the amount invested by the fund, and the percent of the fund's portfolio those holdings make up are shown. The same figures are available for the various sub-categories, and for each individual flagged holding.
Carbon footprint
WARNING: Carbon footprint data is no longer being updated.
As of 2023, we are no longer updating fund carbon footprint data. This is due to a lack of access to regularly-updated company-level carbon footprint data. We are looking into whether we can find a new source for this data. Until then, all fund carbon footprint data should be considered out of date.
A fund's carbon footprint is based on the annual GHG emissions of each company invested in by fund. To independently analyze and calculate carbon footprints for the mutual funds, we used the powerful "Carbon Footprint Analysis Tool" of yourSRI.com, which provides the data on corporate emissions worldwide - comprised of more than 40,000 companies.
We show two key metrics related to carbon emissions - the fund's relative carbon footprint, and the relative carbon intensity. The carbon footprint is based on amount of emissions per unit of investment, while the intensity is based on amount of emissions per unit of revenue.
For these two metrics, we compare the fund's results to a slate of 20 benchmarks from major index providers like MSCI, FTSE/Russell, S&P, and Morningstar. Using iShares ETFs as a stand-in for each index, we calculate the carbon footprint and divide the benchmarks into quartiles, labeled:
Low — Fund footprint/intensity is within the range of the bottom 25% of benchmarks
Below median — Fund footprint/intensity is within the range of the second 25% of benchmarks
Above median — Fund footprint/intensity is within the range of the third 25% of benchmarks
High — Fund footprint/intensity is within the range of the top 25% of benchmarks
Very high — Fund footprint/intensity is higher than all 20 benchmarks
We recalculate the benchmark quartiles each month based on their corresponding iShares ETFs.
We also show the emissions weight of the top 10 holdings in the fund. If a holding's emissions weight is higher than its portfolio weight, it means the holding is responsible for an outsized amount of the fund's carbon footprint.
Sustainable funds
We use Morningstar's "sustainability mandate" indicator to determine which funds are displayed as sustainably-mandated. Sustainably-mandated funds make investment decisions based on issues like environmental responsibility, human rights, or religious views. A sustainably-mandated fund may take a proactive stance by selectively investing in, for example, environmentally-friendly companies, or firms with good employee relations. They may also avoid investing in companies involved in promoting alcohol, tobacco, or firearms, or in the defense industry. Look for this symbol to find funds that are designated sustainably-mandated.
The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment is a group advancing sustainable, responsible, and impact investing. Asset managers who are members of US-SIF often have policies to exclude or restrict investments in companies involved in the production, licensing, and/or retailing of weapons. Look for this symbol to find funds that are members of US-SIF.
Fossil free action toolkit
When you're done looking up funds and finding the data you need, what's next? You can learn how to make a change and move your money with our fossil free action toolkit. Whether you’re an individual investor or if your investments are in your employer-sponsored plan at work, our step-by-step toolkit can help. There's an in-depth guide to responsible investing, links to external resources, a sample letter to send to your employer 401(k) manager, and more — everything you need to make a change and get started investing your money fossil free.
Spreadsheet
We offer sustainable investment tools that highlight issues dealing with climate change, gender equality and more
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Invest Your Values is a project by As You Sow, a 501(c)3 nonprofit empowering shareholders to change corporations for good
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