December 30th, 2020 by Daryl Elliott
Buying Green ETFs Instead of Individual Green Stocks — Pros & Cons
ETFs are Exchange Traded Funds. The aim is to gain the growth of an industry without having to spend a lot of money on buying individual stocks. An ETF also makes it safer for the individual who might otherwise only buy one to three stocks individually and hope to capture the benefit of a growing industry — the risk being that they might pick the wrong stocks even if the industry does grow strongly.
ETFs are managed by professionals who have the resources to go deep on analysis, which presumably would help them to pick the right mix and proportions of stocks in an industry.
The drawback to buying ETFs instead of individual stocks is that any basket is likely to include some slow movers and even losing stocks. If someone knows an industry well, the investor might do better by picking only winning stocks. Doing one’s own analysis might take more time, but it may also pay off in the end. Or not. In the case of a person who is in a field, it’s possible that no added research is needed. However, even experts in the field can make bad picks.
Clean Energy & Clean Transportation ETF List
As CleanTechnica’s own Michael Barnard wrote on December 4 regarding cleantech ETFs, “Cleantech ETFs Vastly Outperform Dow Jones, Oil & Gas In 2020.” The following is a table of such ETFs.
Cleantech ETFs
Solar ETF
In addition to the above, a major solar ETF is the TAN ETF. Here are the stocks in that ETF’s basket:
- SolarEdgc Technologies Inc (SEDG)
- Sunrun Inc (RIJN)
- Enphase Energy Inc (ENPH)
- Xinyi Solar Holdings Ltd (XNYIF)
- First Solar Inc (FSLR)
- Scalec Solar ASA (SSO)
- Vivint Solar Inc (VSLR)
- JinkoSolar Holding Co Lid ADR (JKS)
- Encavis AG (CAP)
- Canadian Solar Inc (CSIQ)
Below are a couple of additional cleantech-focused ETFs not noted above.
Wind ETF
On the wind side of things, there’s the FAN ETF. (Pun must be intended.) Stocks in that ETF include:
- Vestas Wind Systems A/S
- Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA
- Orsted A/S
- Northland Power Inc
- Boralex Inc Class A
- China Longyuan Power Group Corp Ltd Class H
- Innergex Renewable Energy Inc
- TPI Composites Inc
- Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co Ltd Class H
- General Electric Co
Innovation ETF
More broadly, there’s the ARKK Ark Invest Innovation ETF (up 500% in 5 years), which includes the following stocks:
- Tesla Inc
- Roku Inc Class A
- CRISPR Therapeutics AG
- Square Inc A
- Teladoc Health Inc
- Invitae Corp
- Zillow Group Inc C
- Editas Medicine Inc
- Proto Labs Inc
- Pure Storage Inc — Class A
Did we miss any notable cleantech ETF funds? Do you have other thoughts to contribute on ETFs or investing to share? If so, let us know down in the comments!
Risk Disclosure: CleanTechnica is a cleantech publishing firm. We are not investment advisors. Information in this article is for educational and informational purposes only. This is not investment advice. Any action you take on any of this information is at your own discretion. All trading and investing is risky and there is a risk of loss. Please consult with a licensed investment professional before investing your capital.
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About the Author
Daryl Elliott Proponent of solar, wind, EVs, veganism, democracy, and all things environmental and progressive. Writer. Editor. Active options, futures & stock trader. Go green.