ETHI ETF: A Guide to Betashares Global Sustainability Leaders ETF

Overview

Betashares Global Sustainability Leaders ETF (ETHI) is an Australia-listed global equity ETF with an emphasis on sustainability-screened large companies. It gives investors broad developed-market exposure, but with the portfolio shaped by environmental, social and governance criteria rather than a plain market-cap index.

Category

ETHI sits in the global sustainable-investing corner of the market, where portfolio construction is driven by both equity selection and exclusions. That tends to produce a familiar large-cap feel, but with tilts away from businesses that fail sustainability screens and toward companies seen as better aligned with long-term environmental and social criteria. In practice, that can create a portfolio that still looks anchored in major global companies while behaving differently from a conventional world index fund.

Global sustainability funds have generally attracted investors who want broad international equity exposure without owning the full market. The trade-off is that sustainability screens can meaningfully alter sector mix and country exposure. ETHI’s current portfolio leans heavily into technology and financial services, which is consistent with a global large-blend equity fund but also shows that the sustainability overlay does not make the ETF a narrow thematic product. Recent performance has been modest on a one-year basis, while the longer-term numbers remain positive over three and five years.

Key facts

Costs

The fund’s TER, net expense ratio and ongoing charge are all listed as 0%. Its distribution yield is 1.8%, and distributions are paid half-yearly.

Performance

Holdings

The top holdings are Broadcom Inc at 4.18%, ASML Holding N.V. at 4.109%, NVIDIA Corporation at 3.931%, Apple Inc. at 3.902%, Visa Inc. Class A at 3.887%, Mastercard Inc at 3.461%, The Home Depot Inc at 3.229%, Applied Materials Inc at 2.826%, Toyota Motor Corp at 2.635% and Lam Research Corp at 2.628%. By sector, Technology is the largest weight at 37.199%, followed by Financial Services at 25.905% and Healthcare at 13.123%. Consumer Cyclicals also make a meaningful contribution at 10.957%.

Sectors

Related ETFs

Compared with a plain global equity ETF, ETHI is less about tracking the broad market exactly and more about expressing a sustainability preference within a diversified share portfolio. Compared with more concentrated thematic ESG funds, it is broader and more diversified, with a larger set of holdings and a sizeable allocation to well-known global leaders across multiple sectors. Its top 10 holdings account for 34.79% of the portfolio, so the fund is diversified, but not so widely spread that the largest names are irrelevant.

Risks

Who it may suit

ETHI may suit Australian investors who want international share exposure and prefer a sustainability-screened portfolio rather than a market-cap-only global fund. It may also appeal to investors who are comfortable with the possibility that ESG tilts can create periods of underperformance or tracking differences versus the broader global market.

Key risks

The main risks are equity-market volatility, sector concentration and style mismatch. The portfolio is heavily weighted toward technology and financial services, so returns can be influenced by sentiment in those areas. Because the strategy is sustainability-led, it may miss parts of the market that a traditional global index would hold, which can help or hurt performance depending on the cycle. Currency movements also matter for Australian investors because the underlying companies are mostly offshore.

FAQ