Markets could learn a lot from Friday's Earth Day celebrations, a top BlackRock director told CNBC's "Closing Bell" Friday.
The company launched a new ETF Friday, tickered MPCT, which focuses on companies that derive a "majority of their revenue from products and services that address at least one of the world's major social and environmental challenges." Deborah Winshel, managing director and global head of impact investing at BlackRock, said that from family offices and retail investors to institutions, clients are increasingly looking to marry impact and performance for their investments.
"I think the combination of the two is what we're seeing [as] the future of investing, in many ways," Winshel said.
The new MPCT fund holds companies like biotechnology firm Gilead, educational publisher Pearson and wind-power generator Vestas, based on challenges identified by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It's one of many impact-investing funds at BlackRock, including a low-carbon fund.
Sustainable investing has grown 60 percent in the past year, Winshel wrote in a BlackRock blogpost, and is especially popular among women and millennials, she said. The fund closed down 3.2 percent Friday.
"BlackRock has tremendous focus on sustainable investing with over $200 billion of current investments and lots of clients interested in this area," Winshel said.