The $156 million Nuveen Green Bond Fund has scooped the Americas ESG fixed income fund of the year award for its ongoing role as a key facilitator of the innovation in the sustainable bond markets.

The US Dollar-focused fund – known as the TIAA-CREF Green Bond Fund until May – has recently celebrated its fifth anniversary, delivering 1.9% annualised returns since inception. In 2024, the fund has delivered 0.4% to date – outperforming its benchmark by 50 basis points, and the wider bond fund market by 60bps.

The fund dispels the myth you have to sacrifice financial performance to achieve impact. Lead portfolio manager – Steve Liberatore—says the "clarity and conciseness of our approach to active total return Impact Investing" is a driving force behind the fund's success.

He adds that "our experience and expertise have positioned us to be the lead investor in almost every unique, differentiated and highly impactful transaction that has come to the public fixed income market."

The fund was also praised for its long-standing commitment to supporting innovation in the sustainable fixed income market.

For example, the Nuveen Green Bond Fund was one of the main anchor investors in the $50 million World Bank emission reduction-linked bond issued in 2023 – which also recently secured an Environmental Finance Impact Award.

The five-year World Bank bond uses the coupon payment to finance a project in Vietnam to manufacture and distribute water purification filters to school children. The certified carbon credits generated by this project are then sold, with the proceeds distributed to investors as an alternative coupon.

The fund helped bring the "highly complex" deal to market in the hope it can serve as a template for further sustainability outcomes-based bonds in the future.