Environmental Trust Funds in 2019
There are many Trust funds supporting green projects in 2019 such as conservation trust funds, wildlife trusts, national climate & forest funds.
For instance, Green Climate Fund was created by the United Nations. These funds are intended to combat greenhouse gases or any risk of pollution.
Trust funds have not suffered from real loss at the beginning of 2019. Globally trusts offer positive gains & excellent ROI (especially for the top 5 ones) even if they have slightly decreased at the beginning of 2019. Investors are motivated while only closed-end funds are not doing very well.
In 2019, ecological projects are mainly: saving amazonian rainforest from growing oil palm, protect species from mining operations or a marine park of 1.9 million square kilometers etc.
Yet, in Brazil, photographer Sebastião Salgado & his wife Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado planted 2 Billion trees during 20 years in order to recreate a forest.
Trusts are quite successful in the US. On top, we can observe : JP Morgan JMC, Fidelity FCSS, EWI, OCDO, TMPL, WWH and others who are all doing very well. Investors are more & more interested by Tech Trusts.
In the UK, trusts are very common and have been very successful for a long time. All UK Trusts have to declare & register any ownership or property in full details.
In France, Trusts start to attract (since 2014). However, they are still very little used: they are only present since 2007 (2007-211 law). Today, Trusts are less successful in France than in the US or UK. In France are mainly applied: partners pacts, management of job protection plans, stock market trust & Assets transfer.
Trusts are sometimes used for a primary residence used to protect assets. Some trusts may benefit from tax reduction on capital gains in order to avoid double taxation (during re-purchase). Many trusts use this solution.
In Canada, main or primary residences can be transferred to the beneficiary just before selling them. Capital gains will then be exempt during the property ownership period. Finally, health & well-being trusts allow an employer to grant health benefits to its employees.
Global rules for Green Public Procurement Tenders : Public orders increase by 10% each year. In the case of Green Spaces Building, processes vary according to contracts amount or nature. It is imporant to check if statutes alow to have revenues linked to public markets management.
Aurelie Delaleu
Sources
https://www.gov.uk/trusts-taxes
https://www.moneyobserver.com/top-10-most-popular-investment-trusts-may-2018
The EU is supported Trusts since 2016 & even before. Since 2018, European union has set new regulation & registration rules (which have been changed later on). Trusts declarative obligations are restored to all the property & rights they hold. In France, Trust annual declaration is applicable only to taxable assets under the French IFI (real property rights).
For people whose tax residency is in France, declarations must relate only property or rights value located in France or outside France, and on any capitalized product placed in the trust.
Otherwise, declaration must relate solely to property or rights located in France and capitalized products placed in the Trust.
A trust is a fiduciary legal entity in which a trustor (grantor) gives a trustee the right to hold property or assets (cash, stock, bonds, real estate, mutual funds, private business, closed-end fund etc.) on behalf the beneficiary.
Trust : legal protection for the trustor's assets. It can be a public limited company, a commercial bank (trust department), central bank, federal treasury, or a law firm. A trust is created by settlors, deciding terms management.
Trusts have been created in order to avoid asset risk in case of divorce/misfortune/lawsuit. Trusts offer legal protection to property & asset owners. A trust is not a will (in estate plan). A will (within legal executor) impede property & assets to be divided.
A trustee : a trusted advisor who holds on to assets for the trust beneficiaries & oversees Trust duties according to legal documents.
Types of trusts:
- insurance trust, credit shelter trust, medicaid trust
- funded/unfunded trust, revocable/irrevocable trust
- generation-skipping trust, special needs trust
- Living or testamentary trust, totten trust (payable-on-death)
- trust as part of estate & financial planning, marital trust
- qualified personal residence trust, land trust
- qualified terminable interest property trust
- separate share trust, spendthrift trust
- charitable trust, blind trust, QTIP Trust
- Asset protection trust, IRA trust (reducing taxes)
- Grantor Retained Annuity Trust