Investing comes with risk. This article is a general discussion of the merits and risks associated with these ETFs, not a specific recommendation. Speak to an investment professional and make sure your portfolio is diversified. Tim Nash owns shares of PZD and a Solar Bond in his personal portfolio. Tim does not own shares of the other ETFs mentioned in this article.
This portfolio is a simple version of a typical Canadian Couch Potato portfolio, but uses funds that incorporate a strong sustainability lens. The portfolio is very diversified, yet places a strong bet on the emergence of a low-carbon economy. The total annual cost of this portfolio is 0.24%. The weighted average carbon intensity of this portfolio is 55.31 tons of CO2 per million dollars in revenue.
Asset Class |
Weight |
Name and website |
Canadian Equity | 15% | iShares ESG Advanced MSCI Canada Index ETF |
US Equity | 15% | iShares ESG Advanced MSCI USA Index ETF |
Int'l Equity (developed) | 10% | iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EAFE Index ETF |
Int'l Equity (emerging) | 5% | iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EM ETF |
Green Equity | 15% | Invesco Cleantech™ ETF |
Canadian Bonds | 30% | BMO Government Bond Index ETF |
Solar Bonds | 10% | SolarShare Community Bonds |
Like this portfolio and want help buying it? Check out my coaching services at https://www.goodinvesting.com/




I’m in the process of moving my entire portfolio to a “couch potato” model, and am very happy to have come across your site as a resource for adding some sustainability to it.
When it comes to fixed income, I love the idea of community bonds, but are you aware of anything that’s compatible with registered accounts? I’m young enough not to be bothering with any unregistered accounts, and the cost of buying a “small” $5000 CoPower bond inside my Questrade account, for instance, is significant.
Thanks



ESGD: https://www.ishares.com/us/products/283778/ (MER 0.40%)
ESGE: https://www.ishares.com/us/products/283777/ (MER 0.45%)
Each of these ETFs has the same proxy voting policy as the iShares US Equity ETFs (KLD and DSI).
https://www.ishares.com/us/literature/shareholder-letters/proxy-voting-policy-social-index-funds.pdf
(Additional link in case one above stops working: https://www.ishares.com/us/library?keyword=proxy+voting+policy)

Maybe I’m grumpy, but I find the very high MERs (almost 3% per year!) and the other fees involved with Meritas products just outrageous. Why are their fees so high? Some other firms do the same screening for less money. Does the Meritas business model expect buyers to pay a premium for being sin-free? If someone knows why their fees are so high, please let me know.
If you do want to buy mutual funds, the Inhance products (recommended elsewhere on this site) from Clarington Investments offer much cheaper MERs – if you can afford to buy $10K to start (and even lower when you buy $100K to start). No matter how much you buy to start, you still have to pay a trailing commission up front. And watch out for switching fees and redemption fees. They can be sizable. Once you buy Inhance products, plan to leave your money there for a long time (5-10 years or more) or you’ll eat up your returns with fees.
I admired the online marketing for the SolarShare project. Then I found the 5% return they offered for Community Bonds. I think that’s far too modest.
Are these Bonds just intended as symbolic gifts for kids? Ontario is paying a high rate per Kwh for solar electricity under the feed-in-tariff through the MicroFIT and FIT programs. These are 20 year contracts! So who in the SolarShare project is making the real money? Community Bond holders will feel good, but as a little investor, it seems to me they are being penalized with an excessively low return. I suppose 5% is decent compared with Canada Savings Bonds and interest on most savings accounts but the project could have been a lot fairer. If anyone knows why the return to SolarShare Community Bonds is so low, please share your insights.
Even ZooShare Community Bondholders do better at 7%. This is about the long-term average return on the stock market. That seems a fairer return to me. It’s still not optimal. People making decent money are the ZooShare Founders Club members at 11 or 12% since they put up $10K or more at the start, when there was more risk to them of the project not getting off the ground.
Buyer beware.

SRI302 (MERITAS CDN BD FD CL F -NA)
SRI303 (MERITAS JANTZI SOC IDX CL F-NA)
SRI304 (MERITAS US EQTY FD CL F -NA)
SRI305 (MERITAS INTL EQTY FD CL F-NA)

