What are the investment opportunities in renewable energy?
05/18/2022
Bryon Lake
Investing in renewable energy is not just about solar and wind. Of equal importance is investing in storage, transport, and electrification, which is underway.

Meera Pandit
Global Market Strategist
Listen to On the Minds of Investors
Progress on mitigating climate change hinges on cleaner energy as 73% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from energy usage in industry, buildings, and transport. This means the continued expansion of renewable energy and investment in the ecosystem around clean energy which includes storage, transportation, and grid modernization.
Currently about 5% of energy globally comes from solar and wind power. However, for the world to meet its ambitious net zero carbon emissions targets, that share needs to grow to 60% by 2050. Getting there over the next three decades could require $100 trillion in clean energy investment according to IRENA.
Although solar and wind power once felt like a pipe dream, subsidies, innovation, and investment have helped reduce breakeven costs by 90% and 72% respectively since 2009. These advances have made renewable energy not just about sustainability, but also increasingly about affordability, and most recently about reducing geopolitical vulnerability as well.
Crucially, investing in renewable energy is not just about solar and wind. Of equal importance is investing in storage, transport, and electrification, which is underway as highlighted by the growth in the gray bars in the chart below. Two companies contributing to innovation for the grid and transportation are Schneider Electric and Prysmian.
Schneider Electric is a leader in energy grid management, improving reliability, efficiency, and integration. Schneider manages over 30 billion EUR in energy spend for clients and has helped them save or avoid 347 million metric tons of carbon emissions from 2018 to 2021. With increased efficiencies come increased savings—Schneider has saved its clients more than $2.5 billion through implementing more than 750 Energy Saving Performance Contracts (EPSC) over the past 26 years.
Prysmian is a leader in electric cable production and connects energy supplies across the world. Intermittency issues have long been a major obstacle to greater renewable adoption, which Prysmian seeks to reduce. For example, by connecting Norway and Denmark with a high voltage undersea cable, Denmark can share excess wind power it generates with Norway when it’s windy, while Norway can share hydropower when it’s not. Prysmian was awarded 4.8 billion EUR in contracts in 2021 to connect and route energy as Europe strives to construct a more integrated power grid. It will also build the first energy connection between Great Britain and Germany.
These companies are among the holdings of J.P. Morgan’s Climate Change Solutions ETF (NYSE:TEMP). An actively managed sustainable fund. The securities highlighted above have been selected based on their significance and are shown for illustrative purposes only. They are not recommendations.
Global investment in energy transition
Billions USD, nominal
Source: Bloomberg NEF, J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Storage, electrification, other includes hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, energy storage, electrified transport, and electrified heat. Text sources include BP Energy Outlook, IRENA, Lazard, Our World in Data. Guide to the Markets – U.S. Data are as of May 17, 2022.
Investing on the basis of sustainability/ESG criteria involves qualitative and subjective analysis. There is no guarantee that the determinations made by the adviser will align with the beliefs or values of a particular investor. Companies identified by an ESG policy may not operate as expected, and adhering to an ESG policy may result in missed opportunities.
Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives and risks as well as charges and expenses of the JPMorgan ETF before investing. The summary and full prospectuses contain this and other information about the ETF. Read the prospectus carefully before investing. Call 1-844-4JPM-ETF or visit www.jpmorganETFs.com to obtain a prospectus
Risk Summary for JPM Climate Change Solutions ETF: Climate change solutions strategies may result in investments that underperform the market. Such investments may be negatively impacted by changes in global and regional climates, environmental protection regulatory actions, changes in government standards and subsidy levels, changes in taxation and other domestic and international political, regulatory and economic developments. Because society's focus on climate change issues is relatively new, the emphasis and direction of governmental policies is subject to significant change, and rapid technological change could render even new approaches and products obsolete. There is a risk that the companies identified by the adviser do not operate as expected when addressing climate changes issues. In addition, there are significant differences in interpretations of what it means for a company to have solutions that address climate change.
J.P. Morgan ETFs are distributed by JPMorgan Distribution Services, Inc., which is an affiliate of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Affiliates of JPMorgan Chase & Co. receive fees for providing various services to the funds. JPMorgan Distribution Services, Inc. is a member of FINRA.
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