German company Solactive won climate index provider of the year after a series of innovative climate-focused launches for asset managers and issuers across Europe.

A provider of indexing and benchmarking solutions for the investment community, Solactive’s ‘open architecture’ approach – working with many different providers of ESG data – and its long-standing focus on tailoring indices to clients’ needs are key differentiators in the indexing industry and sit at the core of its launches in the climate space.

The Frankfurt-headquartered company began 2021 with two bespoke benchmark indexes, which “exceeded” the requirements for the EU’s Paris-aligned Benchmarks, for Dutch asset manager Robeco.

A few weeks later it served as index provider for what was believed to be the world’s first Paris-aligned bond exchange-traded fund (ETF), which was issued by UK asset manager Tabula.

Then in April 2021 it launched another ETF but this time for Amundi – one which tracks the Solactive iCPR Climate Credit PAB Index. All three launches were supported by different ESG data providers, highlighting one of Solactive’s key differentiators: it’s open architecture approach towards ESG data.

Later in the year, Solactive was appointed as index provider for two green bond ETFs for French asset manager Lyxor (now Amundi) – based on its Solactive Euro Government Green Bond Index and Solactive EUR USD Investment Grade Corporate Green Bond Total Return index.

In equity, Solactive provided the index for UBS’s first climate-aware ETF. It also provided a set of EU Paris-aligned benchmarks to Handelsbanken – the first Swedish asset manager to offer such funds.

Solactive provided the underlying benchmarks for the early 2022 launch of two Paris-aligned ETFs from German asset manager DWS. 

As of February 2021, approximately $250 billion was invested in products linked to its indices.

One Environmental Finance Awards judge said: “The company provides significant opportunities for innovative index products in the marketplace.”