As of . Rebuilt every trading night.
The clean energy ETFs that returned most
Funds sold on one theme can hold different companies, so a year apart at the top and the bottom of this list is a difference in what they own rather than in the theme.
| # | Ticker | Fund | Total return, 1Y | vs the S&P 500 | Weight in S&P 500 companies | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HYDR | Global X Hydrogen ETF | +37.6% | +21.0 pts | 5.1% | 0.50% |
| 2 | FAN | First Trust Global Wind Energy ETF | +26.2% | +9.7 pts | 6.1% | 0.60% |
| 3 | VCLN | Virtus Duff & Phelps Clean Energy ETF | +23.6% | +7.1 pts | 14.1% | 0.59% |
| 4 | ICLN | iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | +18.0% | +1.4 pts | 7.7% | 0.38% |
| 5 | PBD | Invesco Global Clean Energy ETF | +17.0% | +0.4 pts | 1.7% | 0.75% |
| 6 | CTEC | Global X ClimateTech ETF | +16.4% | −0.2 pts | 27.4% | 0.50% |
| 7 | FRNW | Fidelity Clean Energy ETF | +16.4% | −0.2 pts | 9.7% | 0.39% |
| 8 | QCLN | First Trust Nasdaq Clean Edge Green Ener | +16.1% | −0.5 pts | 30.9% | 0.59% |
| 9 | SMOG | VanEck Low Carbon Energy ETF | +11.5% | −5.0 pts | 18.2% | 0.64% |
| 10 | PBW | Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF | +11.1% | −5.5 pts | 7.7% | 0.63% |
| 11 | RNRG | Global X Renewable Energy Producers ETF | +9.7% | −6.9 pts | 0.0% | 0.65% |
| 12 | CNRG | State Street(R) SPDR(R) S&P Kensho Clean | +9.6% | −6.9 pts | 24.5% | 0.45% |
| 13 | TAN | Invesco Solar ETF | +6.7% | −9.9 pts | 9.8% | 0.70% |
| 14 | CCSO | Carbon Collective Climate Solutions U.S. | +2.9% | −13.6 pts | 47.7% | 0.35% |
| 15 | ACES | ALPS Clean Energy ETF | −5.9% | −22.4 pts | 14.7% | 0.55% |
Method
The 16 of 16 ETFs in the clean energy theme with a full year of trading, highest first, each over the same year to Sep 18, 2026 with distributions reinvested. Across the funds listed here the one year total return runs from -5.9% to 37.6%. A year is a year. It says what happened and nothing about what happens next. The ranking is the published field sorted, nothing else: no scoring, no weighting and no view on any fund. Every fund ETFIQ covers in this category is eligible, including funds that have closed, because leaving them out would flatter the category.
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Where these figures came from
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Cite this page. ETFIQ, The clean energy ETFs that returned most, ranked by total return with distributions reinvested, data as of Sep 18, 2026. https://etfiq.com/rankings/themes-best-year-clean-energy Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.