Renewable energy company stocks boosted by ‘Kyoto Effect’

New Energy Finance’s Global Energy Innovation Index (GEIX) has recently completed the first quarter since its launch. Although as a whole the GEIX is only up 0.25% since the beginning of 2005, closer analysis shows a potentially significant ‘Kyoto Effect’. The 20 constituent companies of the GEIX, which are quoted in countries that signed the Kyoto Protocol, are up by an average of 21.9%. By contrast, the 30 GEIX constituents quoted in the USA and Australia, which did not sign the Kyoto Protocol, are down by an average of 13.3%. The GEIX tracks the performance of the largest 50 pure-play quoted renewable and low-carbon energy technology companies worldwide. According to Michael Liebreich, CEO and founder of New Energy Finance, it is too early to tell whether this ‘Kyoto Effect’ is a one-off, or whether it will drive a sustained divergence in the value of new energy stocks in Kyoto and non-Kyoto countries. However, it does indicate that Kyoto has improved the prospects of European renewable energy technology companies vis-à-vis their US counterparts.