Which are the best and greenest shares to buy rather depends – are we to judge on how well they’re going to aid the world in going green? Or in how we’re going to make money out of them? Of course, we’d like to do both but that does mean that we’ve got to distinguish. Some very green shares will not – or are unlikely to – make us money. This following list of the ten greenest shares to buy right now is a highly opinionated and personal list of both some that could well be worth buying and some that look like they’re very green but also not worth buying. But do note that unlike many such top ten lists this is both personal and opinionated.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA)
Yes, yes, we’ve all heard this one before. Bringing electric vehicles to the masses and so on. And yet continuing to allow personal transport – not public – while still having no emissions at the point of use is potentially highly profitable and also very green. Exactly when in the cycle of stock price variability to invest is the problem here – Tesla has done what very few thought it would which is scale to manufacturing size after all.
Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN)
Very much earlier in that race to scale than Telsa, of course. But the green argument is much the same with a twist. The aim is to green, through EVs, the delivery part of the retail cycle. This is something that should, in theory, be easier. The stock price will depend upon management competence at the task plus competitive pressures. Speculative, of course.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)
No, I’ve not gone mad. Yes, consumerism, all those delivery trucks. And yet the major emissions from the distribution chain come from people going to the shops. One van making 50 deliveries replaces 50 shopping trips. Amazon is stunningly green on any rational basis. The stock’s also down significantly recently, something that we should expect to turn. A solid bet at least.
Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND)
Yes, we know, Beyond Meat seems to have dirty factories. The stock price is also as mouldy as some of the products. However, while making plant based meat products is very green it’s as an investment that BYND falls down. Simply on the basis of Warren Buffett’s dictum, there has to be a moat to protect the profits. There isn’t. I’ve long said this one isn’t going to come right.
Lynas Corporation (ASX: LYC)
It’s true they make the rare earths that make all the green techs work. They’re the leading outside China producer and the only fully integrated one outside China. However, there’s too much competition chasing them – too many rare earth mines and processing plants opening up. They damn near went bust under a decade ago. Could happen again. Very green but a risky business to be investing in – too much competition.
Kalera (NASDAQ: KAL)
Idiot idea. Terribly fashionable, very green according to current mores and insanely stupid. Land is cheap out there in the great yonder. So, the idea that we’ll stop growing lettuce on cheap land out there and do it on expensive urban land where folk would like to build apartments? Idiocy. Which is why KAL has lost 98% of its value since the SPAC based IPO only 5 months ago. The same goes for all the other urban farming adventures. Idiocy.
Neste (HEL: NESTE)
No, you’ve never heard of this one. It’s also not really this company so much as the sector. Synthetic jet fuel. This is going to work. If green hydrogen – from solar or wind – becomes available in quantity then making jet fuel out of it is simple chemistry. It’ll be vastly cheaper to do this than stop flying, or electric planes or whatever the other green dreams are. Zero net emission jet fuel will happen. This is a sector to be very careful about as it’s so new as listed companies. But the underlying tech is going to work. Choose carefully.
SSE (LON: SSE)
Now that SSE has sold off its distribution arm it is pretty much a pure play on renewable power within the UK system. This may or may not work as it does depend upon the viability of alternative power sources. But for exposure to this sector it’s difficult to beat the asset mixture. If you want to be green that is. The financial performance at SSE could be variable – as well as strongly affected by windfall taxes.
Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE)
Given that Bloom Energy makes the fuel cell systems that can provide UPS power – and use biogas and so on – this should be a stock that does well. I have personal experience of dealing with the company – as a potential supplier to them – and sorry, don’t rate them. They should be doing so much better than they are and to me at least it’s the corporate culture holding them back. Very green but as an investment?
Rolls Royce (LON: RR)
This is an absurdity as a green stock of course. Except there is that small modular reactor programme. This could work. Rather more important though is that the share price is horribly beaten down by worries over the jet engine business. But as above about synthetic jet fuel I think that’s not going to be get killed off. A speculation, definitely, but it’s one on the green solution to flying happening.
This is not, in fact, a list of the ten greenest shares to buy right now. It is, rather, a list of ten green shares which illustrate the points we need to think about when trying to invest green. For some green ideas are just idiocy and other things which we think are definitively ungreen are in fact so, when looked at in the proper light. All of which is entirely different from whether putting our money there is going to increase our cash piles.
