ETFs & Stocks For A Greener Earth & Portfolio

For the last 49 years, April 22 has been celebrated as Earth Day. The day validates the importance of environmental conservation initiatives. This is especially true given the growing concerns of global warming. Prospects of a warmer weather could mean a big loss in GDP in the coming decades.

On the other hand, there is a 75% chance that arresting global warming within a 1.5 °C rise — a goal set in the Paris climate treaty — will likely result in a cumulative $20-trillion increase in world GDP by the end of the century (Global GDP in 2016 was about $76 trillion), as per an article published on nature.com.

So, increased access to renewable energy can thus be viewed as one of the vital conditions to save our planet. This is not only a socially responsive idea, but also investment-friendly. This is truer since many futuristic companies deal with earth compositions like sun, water and wind to produce renewable energy for a cleaner and healthier tomorrow.

Let’s have a look at how green energy ETFs are doing on World Earth Day. In any case, an uptrend in the clean field is really necessary to keep the earth clean and green.

Inside the Rise of Green Energy

President Trump is apparently against promoting green energy. In his latest budget blueprint for 2020, he substantially reduced new spending on federal programs for advancing clean energy. But the space is still growing (read: Forget Trump Budget, 5 Green ETFs Crushing the Market).

Overall, clean energy jobs expanded 3.6% in 2018, with wind employment flourishing. San Francisco municipal utility plans to focus on 100% renewable energy, which would necessitate more construction of solar and wind facilities.

A study by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) reveals that the United States can generate most of its electricity (around 80%) from renewable energy by 2050.

Against the global backdrop, China is a major player building a green environment. In 2018, China invested around $100 billion. The country is gearing up to launch its ‘artificial sun’ nuclear reactor for the supply of unlimited clean energy.

Almost half of the European Union’s (EU) 28 member states have already reached or are about to touch their 2020 renewable energy targets. However, the rate of adoption is cooling of late.

ETFs in Focus

Some clean ETFs have even beaten the S&P 500 this year. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) (AX:SPY) added about 9.3% in the past three months, while Invesco Solar ETF (LON:TAN) (up 22.6%), Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF (NYSE:XLE) PBW (up 19.2%), Invesco Cleantech ETF PZD (up 13.2%),iShares Global Clean Energy ETF ICLN (up 12.9%) and SPDR S&P 500 Fossil Fuel Reserves Free ETF SPYX (up 9.5%) gave handsome performances.

Green Stocks in Focus

A few stocks also deserve close attention this Earth Day. As per the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), these companies are 100% green power users. While EPA disclosed a list of the top 100 U.S. companies, we highlight a few stocks, using 100% or more green power as a proportion to total electricity uses.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) tops the list using 100% green power as a percentage of total electricity use and with annual power usage of over 4.5 billion of kwh. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) trails Microsoftwith 100% usage and annual consumption of $4.2 billion kwh. Though Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) comes fourth with 1.65 billion of kwh energy usage, in percentage terms, Apple surpassed the other two tech giants as it uses 107% of green power. These stocks have a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Among consumer stocks, Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) Unilever (LON:ULVR) PLC (NYSE:UL) deserves a mention as it consumes 100% green power. Zacks Rank #3 Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) , whichcomes from the financial services industry, uses 106% of green power.

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