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Clean energy investments often focus on investing in renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, and water. There are different alternatives for investors who want to get exposure to this growing sector.
There are two common ways of investing in clean energy. The first one is investing directly in the companies that build green energy technology. This can be achieved by buying stocks. The second alternative is to invest in funds with a portfolio of companies active in the clean energy sector.
Clean energy investment funds have risen in popularity in recent years due to increasing interest among investors in environmentally friendly investments linked to the green transition. It is not only among retail investors that interest in clean energy investments has grown. Also, institutions are putting vast amounts of money into the sector. A recent survey from the alternative investment manager Octopus found that they plan to invest $743bn into renewables in the next decade.
Clean energy investment funds invest in various renewable energy sources, including solar, wind and water energy. Some funds focus less on renewable energy projects and more on green-tech companies that provide technologies for renewable energy solutions.
An investor can also indirectly get exposure to clean technology by investing in the metals and metals mining companies needed to make the technology. Many metals are indispensable in developing technologies required for a green transition. For example, several metals, including lithium and copper, are used in electric vehicle batteries and wind turbines. Gold, and particularly silver, has wide industrial usages linked to technologies that are needed for the green transformation, including solar panels and electric vehicles.
There are different ways of accessing clean energy investment funds that benefit from renewable energy trends:
- AuAg Funds offers metal mining investment funds that focus on providing exposure to precious metals and elements in green technology. What these metals have in common is that they provide protection against monetary inflation and are necessary for the transformation to a green world – trends that are highly topical today.
- Through investments in AuAg's clean energy investment fund, AuAg Precious Green, investors get access to both clean energy technology companies and mining companies that extract the metals needed for the green energy transition
- AuAg's funds fit well into a portfolio of traditional assets as they have a low correlation with equities in particular.
- AuAg offers exposure to green technology companies through the fund AuAg Precious Green. The fund has 60 per cent of the fund's exposure to green tech companies in four different areas; production of clean energy, reduced energy consumption, energy storage/power and extraction of the elements needed for the green transition.
The future for clean energy companies looks bright, underpinned by a structural shift in demand that will favour renewable energy projects. Demand-side growth is also well-supported by ambitious commitments from the EU. These include the EU's objective to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and the US's return to the Paris Agreement on climate change.
To meet these targets for radically reducing emissions, investment in clean energy will need to continue. Therefore, investing in clean energy companies could be a sustainable investment strategy for anyone looking for long-term returns.
There are numerous listed clean energy companies to invest in. These companies typically provide technological solutions to facilitate the transition to a green economy. Renewable energy funds give broad exposure to clean energy companies if the investor does not look for exposure in individual stocks.