HAPS vs USCA

HAPSDHarbor Human Capital Factor US Small Cap ETF

USCAAXtrackers MSCI USA Climate Action Equity ETF

In short

HAPS A small-cap index fund that screens on corporate culture. Irrational Capital scores companies on how they treat their workforce, and Harbor holds the roughly 200 US small caps that rank highest. A people signal, not a balance-sheet one.

USCA The largest US ETF debut on record when it launched in 2023, seeded by a Finnish pension fund. It owns roughly 400 US large- and mid-caps, keeping only the top half of each sector on MSCI's climate-transition scoring, for 0.07% a year.

Stated mandate

HAPS The fund seeks pre-fee and pre-expense returns that correspond to the Human Capital Factor Small Cap Index. It uses an indexing approach and invests at least 80% of assets in index securities.

USCA The fund seeks to track the MSCI USA Climate Action Index before fees and expenses through a passive indexing strategy. The index selects U.S. large- and mid-capitalization companies assessed as leading sector peers in climate-transition positioning and actions.

Why people hold it

• HAPS The screen is genuinely unusual: a proprietary corporate-culture score from Irrational Capital, not the standard value, quality or momentum recipe most small-cap factor funds run.sec.gov
• Plain index mechanics under the hood: at least 80% of assets in index names, roughly 200 small caps, and a portfolio that has stayed closely aligned with its stated mandate.
• Not a one-off experiment. Harbor applies the same Human Capital Factor scoring in its large-cap funds, so this is the small-cap extension of a methodology already running live.businesswire.com

• USCA Costs 0.07% a year against a typical screened US equity peer near 0.28%, and undercuts bigger ESG names like SUSA at 0.25%.
• No blanket sector bans: the index keeps the top 50% of companies in each GICS sector, so energy and industrials stay in, represented by their climate-transition leaders.dws.commsci.com
• Rules do the picking. MSCI's climate metrics, ESG ratings and controversy screens set the roster; no manager discretion, no stock-by-stock calls.dws.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund with an institutional anchor investor from day one, and it pays quarterly.businesswire.com

Worth knowing

• HAPS At 0.61% it costs more than double the small-cap cohort median of 0.25%, and the plain-vanilla leaders (VB and SCHA at 0.03%) charge a fraction of it.sec.gov
• Thinly traded next to category giants like IWM, so spreads can run wider and larger orders need more care.
• The index rules are proprietary, so you cannot fully reverse-engineer why a stock is in or out, and the fund has only traded since 2023.

• USCA Half of each sector is screened out, so results can drift from a plain MSCI USA index fund in either direction.dws.com
• Market-cap weighted and filed as non-diversified, so America's largest companies carry heavy weight at the top.dws.com
• Moderately traded next to the giants of US equity, so spreads can be a bigger part of the cost of getting in and out.

Full HAPS profile⁠

Full USCA profile⁠