NUMG vs USCL

NUMGCNuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth

USCLAiShares Climate Conscious & Transition MSCI USA ETF

In short

NUMG Most mid-cap index funds go wide. NUMG goes narrow: ESG and growth screens distill the middle of the US market down to about 40 names, tracked through an index Nuveen built in-house.

USCL Most ESG index funds work by exclusion. USCL scores roughly 400 US large and mid caps on where they're heading instead: emissions intensity, reduction targets, green revenue. And it charges 0.08% a year to do it.

Stated mandate

NUMG The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Nuveen ESG USA Mid-Cap Growth Index. The index targets U.S.-listed mid-cap equities with growth characteristics and ESG criteria.

USCL The Fund seeks to track an index of U.S. large- and mid-capitalization companies selected for their relative positioning on the transition to a low-carbon economy, using climate-related measures such as emissions intensity, reduction targets, green-business revenue, and climate-risk management.

Why people hold it

• NUMG About 40 holdings makes this a concentrated sleeve, not a broad market proxy. Each name carries real weight, so the ESG and growth screens actually show up in the portfolio.
• Rules, not vibes. It tracks the Nuveen ESG USA Mid-Cap Growth Index, so the sustainability screens and growth tilt are written into the index rather than left to a manager's judgment.
• One ticker for a corner the mid-cap aisle mostly skips: US mid-caps filtered for both ESG and growth, while the cohort's biggest names are broad core trackers.
• Trading since December 2016, so there's a live multi-year record behind the strategy instead of a backtest and a launch deck.

• USCL At 0.08% a year, it matches the cheapest fund in its ESG cohort (XVV) and undercuts ESGV, SNPE, EFIV and ESGU.ishares.com
• The index doesn't just screen out offenders. It selects on transition evidence: emissions intensity, reduction targets, green-business revenue, climate-risk management.ishares.com
• About 400 US large and mid caps, so it reads as core equity exposure with a climate tilt, not a narrow clean-energy sector bet.
• A multi-billion-dollar iShares fund that sticks tightly to the MSCI USA Extended Climate Action Index, one of the cleaner implementations in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• NUMG At 0.31% it runs about double the mid-cap cohort median of 0.15%, and broad trackers like VO and SCHM sit near 0.03%. The screening is what you're paying for.
• Thinly traded next to the category's heavyweights, so spreads deserve a look and limit orders do more work here than on a mega-fund.
• About 40 growth-tilted names cuts both ways: single-stock stumbles and style swings land harder than in a broad mid-cap index. Payouts come annually or semiannually, not monthly.

• USCL Trading is thin for a fund this size, so spreads can widen. Limit orders are the standard tool here.
• Climate scoring reshapes the sector and name mix, so results can diverge from a plain US large-cap index in either direction.
• Launched in 2023, so its history is short next to the older ESG funds it competes with.

Full NUMG profile⁠

Full USCL profile⁠