In a time when clean energy stocks are at historically low levels, three regional clean energy stock indexes launched today by NYSE Euronext and research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
One index covers clean energy stocks in the Americas, another covers Europe, the Mid- East and Africa, and a third covers Asia and Oceania.
The three regional indices:
- NYSE-BNEF Asia Oceania Clean Energy Index (ticker NBASCEUP)
- NYSE-BNEF Europe, Middle East and Africa Clean Energy Index (ticker NBEACEUP)
- NYSE-BNEF Americas Clean Energy Index (ticker NBAMCEUP).
The joint venture is also planning to launch even more refined regional indexes, one for solar companies; one for wind, one for companies that specialize in energy-smart technologies such as efficiency, storage and smart grid; and another for companies involved in electric vehicle development.
The indexes join a handful of others covering similar territory, all of which have done extremely poorly this year, as investors fled most clean energy stocks.
But there are now great variations between world regions in the number of stocks and how they are performing, so these indexes will enable investors to greater stratify their investments.
Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance says these new indexes will go beyond tracking overall market trends to providing more detail – especially about differing growth prospects for clean energy companies in regions of the world.
Asia has become the most dynamic area for clean energy investment, while the Americas are seeing entrepreneurial efforts in first- and second-generation biofuels. We’re also seeing wind energy take-off in Latin America, say Liebreich.
The three regional indices launched today contain 125-325 companies with a moderate, or greater, exposure to renewable energy and energy-smart technologies.
Because of China’s booming solar and wind markets, the Asia/ Oceanic index has as many companies as the Americas and Europe/Mideast/Africa combined. That’s quite a switch from just a few years ago, when Europe was the clear leader in both wind and solar.
For the first 10 months of 2011, the performance of the three new indices varied widely: the Asia-Oceania index is down 33%; the Americas are down 17% and EMEA indices are down 14%.
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