Green & Ethical Investment News and Suggestions

JKenH

Exiled_Tyke said:

JKenH said:

Exiled_Tyke said:

JKenH said:

'Green' investment funds lose savers £7bn in six months

On Hargreaves Lansdown, Britain’s largest broker, all of the five most popular green funds have lost more than the stock market this year.

On the rival broker AJ Bell, its own AJ Bell Responsible Growth fund was the most popular pick, but has lost 7pc since the start of the year. 

However, the second most popular pick on Interactive Investor was Greencoat UK Wind, which invests in infrastructure that supports wind generation and has grown by 10pc in the year to date. Investment trusts that own renewable infrastructure assets have been more resilient than their rivals this year, thanks to strength in the power price market. 

The Renewable Infrastructure Group, which ranked third among Interactive Investor customers, nudged up 2pc in the same period. 

Alan Brierley, of the broker Investec, said that the renewable energy infrastructure funds were well placed to benefit from higher inflation. "Renewables projects’ income are principally comprised of subsidies, which are typically explicitly linked to inflation," he said.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/investing/funds/green-investment-funds-lose-savers-7bn-six-months/

I'm afraid I am a little sceptical about this. Given the broad scope of what companies are included under the umbrellas of 'green' and 'ethical' I'm not sure how useful this article is. A view exacerbated by the political motivations this source often shows over journalistic objectivity.  

With  markets are volatile at the moment and renewables probably more so than others.  Greencoat is trading well over NAV so I'd expect this to be corrected to some degree in the not too distant future.  Also the bulk of the return on this investment is expected to be in dividends (given the policy) and not necessarily capital growth.    

Finally a six month historic timespan in the current circumstances really can't be taken as indicative of what I certainly hope is a long term future for Ethical and Renewable investments.  

I am surprised that you feel that way about the post. I am not able to quote all the article but the quotes I did include made it quite clear that UK Wind actually increased in value and that green infra structure funds are well placed to benefit from higher inflation and that is not something that can be said about many investments. Perhaps you were looking for negativity just because the article was from the Daily Telegraph. 

Here is a previous quote from the Telegrah about UK Wind. 

Our infrastructure trust is Greencoat UK Wind, “one of the few renewable energy infrastructure funds to have maintained the link between its dividend and inflation”, according to Simon Elliott of Winterflood, the broker. The trust also says it aims to “preserve the capital value of the investment portfolio in real terms”.

and from 2020

Greencoat shares are worth tucking away. Its placings typically have a retail portion and are a good entry point because they are priced at a slight market discount.

Questor says: buy

The Telegraph also reported that the share price fell 7% due to the windfall tax scare but that is the job of a newspaper - to give facts and opinions good or bad.

The Telegraph is a newspaper that provides a wide spread of opinion on renewables from its commentators. If you want good news all the time then there are plenty of other sources available many of which are regularly quoted on this board but you then only get to see one side of the coin.

You are missing my point. I've nothing against Greencoat. I have some of their shares. I don't find the article informative. I'd go so far as to say, in consequential. But my fear is that there may be some green-deniers, who happen to be also readers of this paper, who will use this to justify unhelpful views. 

I never suggested you had anything against Greencoat. I am aware you are an investor. OK, so you don’t find the article informative but some people might find it helpful as it makes a distinction between the performance and prospects of green infrastructure funds like UK Wind and other ‘green’ funds. Whether it is inconsequential is a personal view. Obviously it excited your interest enough to post a reply. 

What exactly are ‘unhelpful views’? 

Exiled_Tyke

JKenH said:

Exiled_Tyke said:

JKenH said:

Exiled_Tyke said:

JKenH said:

'Green' investment funds lose savers £7bn in six months

On Hargreaves Lansdown, Britain’s largest broker, all of the five most popular green funds have lost more than the stock market this year.

On the rival broker AJ Bell, its own AJ Bell Responsible Growth fund was the most popular pick, but has lost 7pc since the start of the year. 

However, the second most popular pick on Interactive Investor was Greencoat UK Wind, which invests in infrastructure that supports wind generation and has grown by 10pc in the year to date. Investment trusts that own renewable infrastructure assets have been more resilient than their rivals this year, thanks to strength in the power price market. 

The Renewable Infrastructure Group, which ranked third among Interactive Investor customers, nudged up 2pc in the same period. 

Alan Brierley, of the broker Investec, said that the renewable energy infrastructure funds were well placed to benefit from higher inflation. "Renewables projects’ income are principally comprised of subsidies, which are typically explicitly linked to inflation," he said.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/investing/funds/green-investment-funds-lose-savers-7bn-six-months/

I'm afraid I am a little sceptical about this. Given the broad scope of what companies are included under the umbrellas of 'green' and 'ethical' I'm not sure how useful this article is. A view exacerbated by the political motivations this source often shows over journalistic objectivity.  

With  markets are volatile at the moment and renewables probably more so than others.  Greencoat is trading well over NAV so I'd expect this to be corrected to some degree in the not too distant future.  Also the bulk of the return on this investment is expected to be in dividends (given the policy) and not necessarily capital growth.    

Finally a six month historic timespan in the current circumstances really can't be taken as indicative of what I certainly hope is a long term future for Ethical and Renewable investments.  

I am surprised that you feel that way about the post. I am not able to quote all the article but the quotes I did include made it quite clear that UK Wind actually increased in value and that green infra structure funds are well placed to benefit from higher inflation and that is not something that can be said about many investments. Perhaps you were looking for negativity just because the article was from the Daily Telegraph. 

Here is a previous quote from the Telegrah about UK Wind. 

Our infrastructure trust is Greencoat UK Wind, “one of the few renewable energy infrastructure funds to have maintained the link between its dividend and inflation”, according to Simon Elliott of Winterflood, the broker. The trust also says it aims to “preserve the capital value of the investment portfolio in real terms”.

and from 2020

Greencoat shares are worth tucking away. Its placings typically have a retail portion and are a good entry point because they are priced at a slight market discount.

Questor says: buy

The Telegraph also reported that the share price fell 7% due to the windfall tax scare but that is the job of a newspaper - to give facts and opinions good or bad.

The Telegraph is a newspaper that provides a wide spread of opinion on renewables from its commentators. If you want good news all the time then there are plenty of other sources available many of which are regularly quoted on this board but you then only get to see one side of the coin.

You are missing my point. I've nothing against Greencoat. I have some of their shares. I don't find the article informative. I'd go so far as to say, in consequential. But my fear is that there may be some green-deniers, who happen to be also readers of this paper, who will use this to justify unhelpful views. 

I never suggested you had anything against Greencoat. I am aware you are an investor. OK, so you don’t find the article informative but some people might find it helpful as it makes a distinction between the performance and prospects of green infrastructure funds like UK Wind and other ‘green’ funds. Whether it is inconsequential is a personal view. Obviously it excited your interest enough to post a reply. 

What exactly are ‘unhelpful views’? 

But it doesn't tell us anything helpful about prospects as that means looking at one specific block of 6 months is indicative of the future.  I've come across a number of people suggesting that green investments are a fad and not worthy of serious consideration against the stalwart oil and gas companies. These views are 'unhelpful' and those that express them in my experience are forever looking for examples to support their biased vies.

 In recent years (and over longer terms than 6 months) ethical investments have out performed 'non-ethicals' so a more helpful article would have explored possible reasons for the recent reversal and what it might mean for investors into the future.  

JKenH

Exiled_Tyke said:

JKenH said:

Exiled_Tyke said:

JKenH said:

Exiled_Tyke said:

JKenH said:

'Green' investment funds lose savers £7bn in six months

On Hargreaves Lansdown, Britain’s largest broker, all of the five most popular green funds have lost more than the stock market this year.

On the rival broker AJ Bell, its own AJ Bell Responsible Growth fund was the most popular pick, but has lost 7pc since the start of the year. 

However, the second most popular pick on Interactive Investor was Greencoat UK Wind, which invests in infrastructure that supports wind generation and has grown by 10pc in the year to date. Investment trusts that own renewable infrastructure assets have been more resilient than their rivals this year, thanks to strength in the power price market. 

The Renewable Infrastructure Group, which ranked third among Interactive Investor customers, nudged up 2pc in the same period. 

Alan Brierley, of the broker Investec, said that the renewable energy infrastructure funds were well placed to benefit from higher inflation. "Renewables projects’ income are principally comprised of subsidies, which are typically explicitly linked to inflation," he said.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/investing/funds/green-investment-funds-lose-savers-7bn-six-months/

I'm afraid I am a little sceptical about this. Given the broad scope of what companies are included under the umbrellas of 'green' and 'ethical' I'm not sure how useful this article is. A view exacerbated by the political motivations this source often shows over journalistic objectivity.  

With  markets are volatile at the moment and renewables probably more so than others.  Greencoat is trading well over NAV so I'd expect this to be corrected to some degree in the not too distant future.  Also the bulk of the return on this investment is expected to be in dividends (given the policy) and not necessarily capital growth.    

Finally a six month historic timespan in the current circumstances really can't be taken as indicative of what I certainly hope is a long term future for Ethical and Renewable investments.  

I am surprised that you feel that way about the post. I am not able to quote all the article but the quotes I did include made it quite clear that UK Wind actually increased in value and that green infra structure funds are well placed to benefit from higher inflation and that is not something that can be said about many investments. Perhaps you were looking for negativity just because the article was from the Daily Telegraph. 

Here is a previous quote from the Telegrah about UK Wind. 

Our infrastructure trust is Greencoat UK Wind, “one of the few renewable energy infrastructure funds to have maintained the link between its dividend and inflation”, according to Simon Elliott of Winterflood, the broker. The trust also says it aims to “preserve the capital value of the investment portfolio in real terms”.

and from 2020

Greencoat shares are worth tucking away. Its placings typically have a retail portion and are a good entry point because they are priced at a slight market discount.

Questor says: buy

The Telegraph also reported that the share price fell 7% due to the windfall tax scare but that is the job of a newspaper - to give facts and opinions good or bad.

The Telegraph is a newspaper that provides a wide spread of opinion on renewables from its commentators. If you want good news all the time then there are plenty of other sources available many of which are regularly quoted on this board but you then only get to see one side of the coin.

You are missing my point. I've nothing against Greencoat. I have some of their shares. I don't find the article informative. I'd go so far as to say, in consequential. But my fear is that there may be some green-deniers, who happen to be also readers of this paper, who will use this to justify unhelpful views. 

I never suggested you had anything against Greencoat. I am aware you are an investor. OK, so you don’t find the article informative but some people might find it helpful as it makes a distinction between the performance and prospects of green infrastructure funds like UK Wind and other ‘green’ funds. Whether it is inconsequential is a personal view. Obviously it excited your interest enough to post a reply. 

What exactly are ‘unhelpful views’? 

But it doesn't tell us anything helpful about prospects as that means looking at one specific block of 6 months is indicative of the future.  I've come across a number of people suggesting that green investments are a fad and not worthy of serious consideration against the stalwart oil and gas companies. These views are 'unhelpful' and those that express them in my experience are forever looking for examples to support their biased vies.

 In recent years (and over longer terms than 6 months) ethical investments have out performed 'non-ethicals' so a more helpful article would have explored possible reasons for the recent reversal and what it might mean for investors into the future.  

The article does explain the share price reversals and it does say something about the prospects of UK Wind and other green infrastructure funds which are the green funds most of us are interested in - they will do well while energy prices and inflation are high. Beyond that it’s anyone’s guess. There is no golden ticket when it comes to successful investing. No one can predict the future particularly when it comes to the direction of travel of a particular share price. You have only to look at broker forecasts to see how poorly the experts perform. Sometimes they get it right and other times horribly wrong. Some popular funds such as Scottish Mortgage (which unfortunately I hold) have had a real rollercoaster ride. 6 months ago would anyone have expected them to lose 40% of their value? 

The article was about how ESG funds had performed and highlighting some of the winners and losers. I didn’t dwell on the losers but the fact that the Telegraph identified the poor performers (as well as UKW bucking the trend) doesn’t mean they are biased against ESG stocks. 

As far as bias is concerned don’t most of the posts on this board support someone’s biased views? It is a fact of life that most of us believe we are sensible and centrist in our views and can be dismissive of those that disagree with us. I have no problem with that on an individual topic - we all have personal biases (what we like to eat, what we watch on TV, what cars we like to drive etc) - but I don’t believe that because I don’t like rhubarb, Love Island and SUVs, and someone else does, that puts me in a box as biased against all their views and beliefs.

On a forum there will always be disparate views and I think we all need to agree and disagree on individual topics without carrying that baggage over to other topics and implying motives that may not be there. 

Martyn1981

Cut and paste from the many times I've posted this on this thread already.

Hi Ken, just like all the other G&E news threads, this is one is for like minded people to share information with other like minded people. It's not here to say that folk should invest in G&E funds, nor for folk like you to argue/debate against the overriding premise of the thread.

Investing, and investments of any type, in any product are for the individual to decide, this thread is, as I said, simply to share between like minded individuals, what we find/have found. Those not interested in G&E investments would naturally be expected to ignore the thread.

If you think people shouldn't invest in G&E, then why not argue that on your "Alternative to Green & Ethical Threads" thread, as this one was never designed nor envisaged for pro/con debate on the issue.

QrizB

JKenH said:

... but I don’t believe that because I don’t like rhubarb, Love Island and SUVs, and someone else does, that puts me in a box as biased against all their views and beliefs.

I can't believe anyone actually likes Love Island and SUVs are one of those things I can go either way on, but I won't hear a word said against rhubarb!

JKenH

Martyn1981 said:

Cut and paste from the many times I've posted this on this thread already.

Hi Ken, just like all the other G&E news threads, this is one is for like minded people to share information with other like minded people. It's not here to say that folk should invest in G&E funds, nor for folk like you to argue/debate against the overriding premise of the thread.

Investing, and investments of any type, in any product are for the individual to decide, this thread is, as I said, simply to share between like minded individuals, what we find/have found. Those not interested in G&E investments would naturally be expected to ignore the thread.

If you think people shouldn't invest in G&E, then why not argue that on your "Alternative to Green & Ethical Threads" thread, as this one was never designed nor envisaged for pro/con debate on the issue.

You say “ It's not here to say that folk should invest in G&E funds, nor for folk like you to argue/debate against the overriding premise of the thread.” Please give me an example of when I have done that .

I haven’t argued against investing in G&E but like any share/fund you need to do your homework. If I was anti G&E investment why would I have posted this (below)? 

 The excerpt from the Telegraph (below) shows the UK Wind fund and other green infrastructure funds are bucking the trend of other ‘green’ funds. That sounds like good news to me as UK Wind is a fund many of us are interested in. 

 Investment trusts that own renewable infrastructure assets have been more resilient than their rivals this year, thanks to strength in the power price market. 

There are however some other ‘green’ funds which are dubious, hence the investigation into Deutsche Bank which I also posted about.

Would you prefer this type of post is filtered out? Shouldn’t people be aware this is going on? Just because something is labelled ESG it doesn’t mean it is. The corollary being that if something is classified as non ESG (eg Tesla) it doesn’t mean it isn’t green and ethical. Tesla have made an overwhelming contribution to the greening of transportation and the issues that have seen them classed as non ESG bring the whole concept of classifying these funds into disrepute. Do your own research, as they say, and if something fits with your criteria of G&E go with it.

By the way, I didn’t start this little debate. I just posted a news article from the Telegraph which I thought was positive about UK Wind which prompted @ExiledTyke to respond negatively. Had I wanted to be negative and anti green investment I would have omitted the positive comments about UKW and green infrastructure funds and included instead the following quote from the article.

This has been down to the "style" of investing now in favour has shunned previously successful tech stocks and rewarded cheaper oil and gas companies.

Dzmitry Lipsky, of the broker Interactive Investor said this rotation had reversed green investors' fortunes. "Ethical and green funds tend to shun oil and mining stocks, which are often perceived as ‘dirty.’ However, with the oil price rising from about $70 (£56) a barrel at the start of the year to $120, and iron ore and copper also jumping in value, commodity firms were one of the best places to be invested over the past year," he added. 

If you don’t want to see pro and con arguments then ask people just to post news and request no replies. Maybe it’s just a new thing as I seem to recall there was quite a bit of debate between you and @joefizz in the early days of this thread. 

Now can we please stop trying to project this image of me being out to disrupt all your threads. Some of your posts I disagree with and others I don’t. I am sure it is the same with you. To try and show goodwill I occasionally give you ‘thanks’ although I note this is never reciprocated and the same applies with several other forum members. This is just common courtesy. Instead I have noted that you give thanks to certain individuals for challenging my posts irrespective of the merits of their argument. I think in the modern parlance that would be regarded as ‘passive aggression’. 

I do have to point out that this is an MSE forum, not Mart’s forum and not everyone can be expected to have the same point of view on everything so there will be debate. If you don’t want to see alternative points of view then perhaps you could hold your discussions in a closed group elsewhere. 

JKenH

The vege-bubble is turning to vege-bust

Add in worries over climate change, to which meat farming is a major contributor, and health concerns as well, especially for red meats, and there was a huge space for plant-based proteins. Anyone who could offer a burger that was made of beans but still tasted the same as the one that started in a field seemed to be onto a winner. 

Yet right now there are signs the tide is turning. 

Over in this country, it emerged last week that Morrisons and Asda had dropped their meat-free sandwiches while Tesco had reduced the number it offers by a quarter. Meanwhile, the leader of the sector Beyond Meat has seen its share price drop by 82pc in the last year, hardly a sign that investors have much faith in its future any more.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/06/26/vege-bubble-turning-vege-bust/

JKenH

Solar car park developer 3ti hits funding target in under an hour

https://www.transportxtra.com/publications/local-transport-today/news/71476/solar-car-park-developer-3ti-hits-funding-target-in-under-an-hour/

Wasn’t sure whether to put this here or under solar news. Anybody invested?

Details below. 24 days left.

https://www.crowdcube.com/companies/3ti-energy-hubs-ltd/pitches/qBjgVq

Martyn1981

Can't recall if the investment in solar for schools on Ethex has been mentioned. Something parents often get involved with locally, on a small (local) level.

Solar For Schools

Solar for Schools is a pioneering solar energy organisation that works with schools and communities to provide decarbonisation and energy education powered by the sun.

Exiled_Tyke

So with the excellent cfd news also comes some assurance for Simec Atlantis.  They've been awarded 28MW at a strike price of £178 /MWh. So this equates to around 15 turbines worth. Hopefully this will give the markets confidence to enable them to secure more funding.