EMCR vs EMSF

EMCRAXtrackers Emerging Markets Carbon Reduction and Climate Improvers ETF

EMSFFMatthews Emerging Markets Sustainable Future Active ETF EMSF

In short

EMCR A carbon-tilted way to own emerging markets wholesale: roughly 1,400 stocks screened for climate commitments, at 0.15% a year when the typical EM fund in its group charges more than triple that.

EMSF Matthews made its name picking stocks in Asia and emerging markets. EMSF points that research at EM companies meeting its own ESG standards: fully active, measured against the MSCI Emerging Markets Index rather than bound to it.

Stated mandate

EMCR The fund seeks to track the performance of the Solactive ISS Emerging Markets Carbon Reduction & Climate Improvers Index NTR before fees and expenses.

EMSF The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in emerging-market common and preferred stocks that meet one or more of its ESG standards.

Why people hold it

• EMCR Charges 0.15% a year against a 0.49% median for its emerging-market peer group, one of the cheapest tickets in the category.
• Roughly 1,400 names spread across emerging markets, so no single stock or country call carries the portfolio.
• The mandate is explicit: passive tracking of the Solactive ISS EM Carbon Reduction & Climate Improvers index, with the climate and ESG rules written into the prospectus.
• Undercuts the cohort's better-known tilts on fee: FNDE at 0.39% and XSOE at 0.32%, with EMCR priced under both.

• EMSF The sustainability screen is written into the mandate, not bolted on: the fund invests primarily in EM stocks meeting one or more of its ESG standards.
• Genuinely active. MSCI Emerging Markets is the yardstick, not the shopping list, so the manager can concentrate where the research points.
• Common and preferred shares are both in the toolkit, which matters in emerging markets where a company's preferred line is often the more accessible one.
• Run by Matthews Asia, a boutique whose whole business is Asia and emerging markets rather than a global shop with an EM sleeve.

Worth knowing

• EMCR Thinly traded next to the category's giants, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than the headline fee suggests.
• The screen reweights the book away from a plain EM index, so its sector and country mix departs from the standard benchmark.
• Pays on an annual or semiannual schedule, not monthly.

• EMSF At 0.79% a year, the fee sits above the typical active EM ETF, and the category's cheapest well-built options (AVEM, AVSE, DFEM) charge 0.33% to 0.39%.
• A small fund that trades lightly. Spreads tend to be wider than in the category's household names, so order type does real work here.
• Launched in 2023, so the record is short by design, and distributions arrive once or twice a year rather than monthly.

Full EMCR profile⁠

Full EMSF profile⁠