EFIV vs ESG

EFIVAState Street SPDR S&P 500 ESG ETF

ESGBNorthern Trust STOXX US ESG Select ETF

In short

EFIV A screened S&P 500 that still looks like one. EFIV trims to about 300 names on ESG criteria but holds industry-group weights close to the parent index, for 0.10% a year.

ESG Most US ESG funds are the S&P 500 with the worst offenders stripped out. ESG starts from a different blueprint: a STOXX index that scores companies on ESG key performance indicators, sampled down to about 300 US names since 2016.

Stated mandate

EFIV The Fund seeks to track an index of securities selected using environmental, social, and governance sustainability criteria while retaining industry-group weights broadly similar to the S&P 500 Index.

ESG The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the STOXX USA ESG Select KPIs Index. It uses a passive representative-sampling approach to invest in U.S. equities selected using ESG criteria.

Why people hold it

• EFIV Charges 0.10% a year, well under the 0.25% typical of its values-screened peer group.
• Keeps industry-group weights broadly similar to the S&P 500, so the screen changes which names you own more than which sectors.
• Tracks its declared index very tightly, one of the cleaner implementations in its cohort.
• Straightforward 1940 Act index fund from SPDR, running since 2020, distributing quarterly.

• ESG Not a re-screened S&P 500. Its index ranks US companies on ESG key performance indicators first, then the fund samples that list down to about 300 names.
• Trading since July 2016, well before the ESG land rush, with Northern Trust's index shop behind the build.
• What's on the tin is what's in the box: the portfolio lines up with the ESG mandate in the fund's own documents.
• Boring plumbing, in the good way. A plain 1940 Act index fund with no leverage or derivative overlay, paying shareholders quarterly.

Worth knowing

• EFIV About 300 stocks, not 500. The screens remove names, so results can diverge from the headline S&P 500.
• Cheaper shelf-mates exist: XVV at 0.08% and ESGV at 0.09% undercut it on fee.
• Mid-size asset base and moderate trading volume, which can mean wider spreads than the mega-cap index giants.

• ESG You pay up for the custom build: 0.32% (0.33% gross, net of a waiver through March 1, 2027), above the category median across 48 funds and above screened peers like XVV at 0.08% and ESGU at 0.15%.
• It trades lightly next to the category's giants, so spreads and limit orders matter more here than in a mega-fund.
• A KPI-built book of roughly 300 stocks will wander from the broad US market in sector mix and results, in both directions. That gap is the whole point.

Full EFIV profile⁠

Full ESG profile⁠