Launched on 12/08/2014, the iShares Low Carbon Optimized MSCI ACWI ETF (CRBN) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the World ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader market or a particular market segment.
Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.
There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.
Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.
While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by Blackrock, and has been able to amass over $1.18 billion, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the World ETFs. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target Index.
The MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target Index is designed to address two dimensions of carbon exposure - carbon emissions and potential carbon emissions from fossil fuel reserves.
Cost & Other Expenses
Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins if all other fundamentals are the same.
Annual operating expenses for CRBN are 0.20%, which makes it one of the least expensive products in the space.
CRBN's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 1.97%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
Taking into account individual holdings, Nvidia Corp (NVDA) accounts for about 4.75% of the fund's total assets, followed by Apple Inc (AAPL) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT).
CRBN's top 10 holdings account for about 24.18% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has added roughly 13.05% so far this year and is up about 21% in the last one year (as of 08/20/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $216.28 and $261.31
CRBN has a beta of 0.93 and standard deviation of 14.41% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a low risk choice in the space. With about 1121 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
iShares Low Carbon Optimized MSCI ACWI ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the World ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
Vanguard ESG U.S. Stock ETF Shares (ESGV) tracks FTSE US ALL CAP CHOICE INDEX and the iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF (ESGU) tracks MSCI USA ESG Focus Index. Vanguard ESG U.S. Stock ETF Shares has $13.57 billion in assets, iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF has $18.25 billion. ESGV has an expense ratio of 0.09% and ESGU changes 0.15%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the World ETFs
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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iShares Low Carbon Optimized MSCI ACWI ETF (CRBN): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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