Fidelity International has launched what it believes is the first globally available ‘blue transition’ bond fund.

Kris Atkinson and Shamil Gohil manage the Fidelity Funds 2 – Blue Transition Bond Fund and have a combined 42 years’ experience.

According to Fidelity, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) “Life Below Water” remains the least funded SDG, not far behind “Clean Water” and Sanitation”, which is the sixth least funded.

Fidelity said the launch is part of the firm’s ongoing commitment to sustainable investing and the fund invests in global bonds or bonds of issuers that, among other criteria, contribute to ocean and freshwater objectives aligned with one or more SDG, or aim to improve management of water-related risks and opportunities.

A minimum of 80% of the Fund’s investments are used to meet the environmental or social characteristics promoted by the fund.

Kris Atkinson, portfolio manager, said: “The bond market is uniquely positioned to help support the blue transition, given its size and greater number of issuers across both public and private entities in the corporate and sovereign issuer space.

“We are particularly focused on Blue Bonds, a sub-component of the green bond market, which finance ocean and freshwater related projects. However, Blue Bonds alone are not sufficient for investors looking to support ocean and freshwater themes while aiming to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns. A broader more holistic approach needs to start at the issuer level, investors should consider how a company operates, which products and services it offers, and how these align to the blue transition.”