A new trend among some of the nation’s most established mutual fund companies illustrates just how white-hot the ESG investing market has become in recent years. But some question whether these funds are ESG in name only, raising concerns of greenwashing.

American Century Investments, Putnam Investments and USAA are among the firms rebranding some of their stalled funds as strategies that offer exposure to investments that support environmental, social and governance criteria.

At least 61 funds from 37 companies have been converted to ESG strategies since the start of 2018, and the total number of ESG funds has grown over that period by 63% to 439 through the first half of 2021, according to Morningstar data.

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