Green Investors Find a Silver Lining in Trump’s Presidency
Shares in clean energy companies have fallen every year since 2021, but some say the sector has hit bottom.
Illustration: Alëna Skarina for Bloomberg Businessweek
The last time Donald Trump was in the White House, ultra-low interest rates helped green stocks quadruple in value, with a particularly strong surge after Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Jubilant investors rightly expected the incoming president, a champion of clean energy, to enact a raft of climate-friendly policies, lifting the industry to new heights. But around the time Biden took the oath of office in January 2021 the euphoria subsided, and shares of companies in the sector fell throughout his presidency.
Now, even as Trump has abandoned the global pact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and is seeking to boost production of fossil fuels, some in the business are increasingly optimistic about the industry's prospects. Low valuations and an improving earnings outlook, they say, provide a glimmer of hope. “We believe we are close to a turning point,” says Mark Lacey, a money manager at Schroders Plc.