CNRG vs SMOG

CNRGBState Street SPDR S&P Kensho Clean Power ETF

SMOGCVanEck Low Carbon Energy ETF

In short

CNRG A focused read on clean power: about 40 global stocks tracked to an S&P Kensho index, at a fee below the clean-energy midpoint. Small fund, sharp mandate, one of the stronger builds in the theme.

SMOG Clean energy from before it was a crowded shelf. SMOG has traded since 2007, and its global index reaches past wind and solar into the batteries, EVs, hydrogen and smart grids that move the electrons.

Stated mandate

CNRG The fund seeks to provide investment results that generally correspond to the total return performance of the S&P Kensho Clean Power Index before fees and expenses.

SMOG The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MVIS Global Low Carbon Energy Index. The rules-based index targets renewable-energy companies and related low-carbon technologies, including wind, solar, hydro, hydrogen, biofuels, batteries, electric vehicles, smart grids, and efficiency materials.

Why people hold it

• CNRG Charges 0.45% a year, under the 0.59% median for clean-energy funds and below pricier peers like FAN (0.61%) and ACES (0.55%).
• About 40 holdings, so each name carries real weight. This is a concentrated take on clean power, not a broad index with a green label stapled on.
• Rules-based and global: it tracks the S&P Kensho Clean Power Index rather than leaving the theme to a manager's judgment.ssga.com
• Live since 2018, giving it a longer record through the theme's boom and bust than most clean-energy launches.

• SMOG Launched in 2007, one of the original clean energy ETFs, on the market long before the theme filled up with copycats.
• Not just power plants. The index rules pull in wind, solar, hydro, hydrogen, biofuels, batteries, EVs, smart grids and efficiency materials.vaneck.com
• Global and rules-based: roughly 60 names picked by a published index method, not a manager's hunches.

Worth knowing

• CNRG Thinly traded compared with the theme's headline funds, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads at the moment you transact.
• A concentrated slice of one policy-sensitive sector. Swings run harder than a broad equity fund's, in both directions.
• Distributions come quarterly, but yield is incidental here. The fund is built around the clean-power theme, not payout.

• SMOG Costs 0.64% a year, the pricier end of the aisle. ICLN and FRNW run global clean energy mandates for 0.39%.
• One of the thinner traders in its group, so the gap between buy and sell prices can run wider than at the category's giants.
• Distributions land once or twice a year at most. Income is a side effect here, not the point.

Full CNRG profile⁠

Full SMOG profile⁠