EMSF vs ESGE

EMSFFMatthews Emerging Markets Sustainable Future Active ETF EMSF

ESGEAiShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF

In short

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.

ESGE The ESG emerging-markets fund built to not feel different: it screens MSCI's EM universe for environmental, social and governance traits while keeping risk and return close to the parent index, for 0.25% a year.

Stated mandate

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.

ESGE The fund seeks to track large- and mid-capitalization emerging-market equities with positive environmental, social, and governance characteristics, while maintaining risk and return characteristics similar to its parent index.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• ESGE 0.25% a year, below the typical fee among ESG emerging-market ETFs.
• "Aware" is the whole design: the index tilts toward better ESG-rated companies while targeting risk and return characteristics similar to the standard MSCI EM parent.ishares.com
• Trading since 2016 and now a multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund, which is a rare combination in a corner full of small, thinly used products.
• Does exactly what its name says: full-time exposure to large- and mid-cap emerging-market stocks via the MSCI Emerging Markets Extended ESG Focus Index, one of the cleanest mandate fits in its peer group.ishares.com

Worth knowing

• 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.

• ESGE It is a tilt, not a purge. Because the index chases parent-like risk and return, the lineup stays close to mainstream EM rather than a deep-green portfolio.ishares.com
• Screening narrows the field to roughly 300 stocks, so holdings and country weights drift from a plain emerging-markets index fund.
• Not the cheapest badge in the aisle: sibling LDEM runs 0.16%, though it takes a stricter ESG-leaders approach.

Full EMSF profile⁠

Full ESGE profile⁠