Sarasin has launched a fund - which the Swiss private bank says is the world's first - to specialise in shares of sustainable property companies.

The Sarasin Sustainable Equity – Real Estate Global fund’s portfolio includes companies that are at the forefront of sustainable construction and management of properties, the bank said in a statement.

The fund, which became available on 10 July 2009 and is domiciled in Luxembourg, invests in listed companies active in real estate and in Real Estate Investment Trusts while taking environmental and social criteria into consideration.

The bank said that the biggest challenges facing the real estate sector are soaring energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions, adding that there is growing political pressure for more emphasis to be placed on sustainability in construction projects and building design.

“Of all the sectors, real estate has the biggest potential for reducing energy consumption and preventing greenhouse gas emissions. The property sector therefore has a key role to play in combatting climate change,” said Klaus Kaempf, sustainability research.

Jakes Ferguson, the fund manager who conceived the new fund, has also expressed a conviction that sustainability will continue to grow in importance in Asia.

In the aftermath of the financial crisis, ethical and socially responsible investment practices are high on the agenda, partially due to the belief that investing in companies where corporate governance matches defined ethical and ecological criteria goes some way towards mitigating risk.

Reflecting this heightened concern for issues such as sustainability, several funds have been launched recently which invest only in companies that meet environmental and social considerations, notably Credit Suisse’s Global Responsible Equities fund.