CNRG vs VCLN

CNRGBState Street SPDR S&P Kensho Clean Power ETF

VCLNCVirtus Duff & Phelps Clean 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.

VCLN Most clean energy ETFs just follow an index. VCLN doesn't: it's an active stock-picker in the space, with a mandate pointed at Europe and the US, priced right at what the average rival in the category charges.

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.

VCLN The Fund seeks capital appreciation and is actively managed rather than designed to replicate a specified securities index.

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.

• VCLN Active by design: the prospectus says it seeks capital appreciation rather than replicating an index, so the manager can skip names a benchmark would have to own.
• You pay the going rate for that active mandate: 0.59% a year, level with the median clean energy ETF.
• The mandate points at Europe and the US, so exposure leans developed-market clean energy instead of a global sweep.
• Held wide, not concentrated: well over a hundred positions, so no single broken story dominates the basket.

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.

• VCLN Thinly traded with a small asset base, so spreads can run wide and a big order can push the price around.
• Index rivals ICLN and FRNW charge 0.39%. The active mandate here costs more every year, whatever the manager does with it.
• No index to check it against, and cash comes back once or twice a year rather than monthly.

Full CNRG profile⁠

Full VCLN profile⁠