Against the grain – green investment equals strong returns, despite market volatility

Recent figures published by research and index firm Reputex, demonstrate that against the global trend and despite recent market volatility, green investment portfolios have been outperforming the wider market. Monitoring the performance of industries likely to benefit from climate change, Reputex’s Climate Change Index (CCI) tracks low emissions sectors such as renewable energy, environmental services, natural gas, water and waste management.

Observed in both the short and long-term the out performance of green investment portfolios has been part of a developing trend over the last few years. According to Reputex, for the last three years the Index has delivered a return of 4.44% p.a., whilst the benchmark S&P ASX 200 returned  -11.28% p.a., an outperformance of over 15% p.a. Hugh Grossman, head of Research at Reputex said “while it is widely acknowledged that the popularity and appetite of investors for ‘green’ investments is rapidly growing, the performance of the index confirms the long-term growth and recovery of these sectors”¹.

“Low emissions activities such as natural gas and renewable energy certainly stand to benefit from the changing nature of the market. Performance like this is hard to ignore,”² said Mr Grossman.

References:

1 & 2
‘Performance of green investments suggest key role in global recovery’ www.reputex.com.au, April 28, 2009

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