Green energy stocks are making a comeback despite political headwinds, according to data released this week by research firm Rystad Energy.
Why it matters: Conventional wisdom suggests that clean-energy companies are down and out with President Trump repealing a raft of policies supporting them. But the stock reality says otherwise.
By the numbers: The green energy index, a collection of 83 public companies in the cleantech space, is up by 40% this year, beating the total return of the S&P 500 by 25 percentage points.
- The trend is "leaving most upstream oil and market indexes in the dust," said Artem Abramov, deputy of analysis at Norway-based Rystad.
Driving the news: The recent rally is being largely driven by a small handful of companies, including China's CATL and Bloom Energy. The latter has seen tailwinds thanks to AI power demand.
Yes, but: The index lost nearly 60% of its value during 2022 and 2023, and this latest recovery remains about 40% short of the peak in 2021.
Between the lines: This trend also doesn't capture the challenges that early-stage and private companies in this space are facing due to fewer government incentives, which are often vital to startups.
What we're watching: To what extent the AI boom will keep this trend going.
