Earth Friendly Stocks for Earth Day (and beyond)

The first Earth Day, back in 1970, was the idea of Senator Gaylord Nelson as a way to force environmental issues into the national discussion. At the time, there was no EPA, no Clean Air Act, no Clean Water Act, and no smog or efficiency standards – the average car averaged 11.9 mpg on leaded gasoline.

Since that first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, each that has followed has been an occasion to celebrate past successes and recognize how much more can be done. From the perspective of an inhabitant of this planet, the progress benefits us now and preserves sustainability for the future; from purely an investor’s standpoint, cleaner environmental initiatives lead to the kind of change in spending that provides opportunity. The year 2021 is ushering in these opportunities with a number of objectives that will force transition in many businesses. High on the list in the U.S. is the re-signing of the Paris Agreement earlier this year. Additionally, President Biden has pledged that the country will work to slash America’s greenhouse gas emissions at least in half by 2030, with longer-term efforts to achieve a 100% clean energy economy and reach net-zero emissions no later than 2050. The U.S. president is hosting a virtual summit of 40 world leaders to discuss climate initiatives this week. During the summit, Biden is expected to ask for new commitments from the world’s biggest carbon emitters.

Earlier this year, Biden had proposed an infrastructure initiative, in which he expects to spend $2 trillion over eight years for infrastructure projects to curb the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Portions of this corporate tax-funded spending will be used for clean-energy measures, including electric vehicle funding, research, and development, the addition of charging stations and retrofitting buildings and residences.

Five Earth-Friendly Stocks to Read Up On

An even greener red, white, and blue will make winners out of companies that were barely getting noticed a few of years ago. Environmental regulation and changing business attitudes focusing more on ESG will impact sectors such as manufacturing, fuel generation, metals and mining, utilities, and others. Below are five Earth-friendly stocks that could be worth checking in on.

GEVO Inc. (GEVO) is a renewable chemicals and biofuels company that develops and brings to market alternatives to petroleum-based products based on isobutanol produced from renewable feedstocks.

The “low carbon” fuel company has developed a breakthrough process that converts a high-octane fuel called isobutanol into clean, renewable diesel. The green diesel can also be made from fusel oils, a mixture of several alcohols produced as a by-product of fermentation.

Capstone
Turbine Corp. (CPST,
CS:CA) is a leading global producer of highly efficient, low emission, microturbine energy systems. Their microturbines serve multiple vertical markets throughout the world; they include natural resources, energy efficiency, renewable energy, critical power supply, transportation, and microgrids.

Comstock
Mining Inc. (LODE) is an emerging leader in the sustainable extraction, valorization, and production of innovation-based, clean, renewable natural resources. Their focus is on high-value, cash-generating, strategic materials that are essential to meeting the rapidly increasing global demand for clean energy, carbon neutrality, and natural products.

Energy
Fuels (UUUU ,
EFR:CA) is a leading U.S.-based uranium mining company supplying U308 to major utilities operating in the nuclear realm. The company also produces vanadium from certain projects as called for by market demand. Energy fuels expects to begin commercial production of rare earth element (REE) carbonate in 2021.

enCore
Energy (ENCUF ,
TSX:V) is a uranium explorer and developer focused on growing its portfolio of ISR (in situ recovery) and conventional assets in the U.S. The experienced team of uranium experts have advanced large domestic growth
projects and successful sale of those projects.

Take-Away

As we recognize our 51^st Earth Day it’s good to remember that at that time there was very little regard for the impact of industry on the planet. While some countries now have a better record than others, and more service-related industries are naturally more green, the strides we’ve made over five decades have yielded measurable results. As the global push toward a “greener” environment accelerates, there will be winners; whether an investor considers themselves to be an “impact investor” or an investor that is following trends, Earth-friendly investments offer tremendous potential.

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