FRNW vs SMOG

FRNWAFidelity Clean Energy ETF

SMOGCVanEck Low Carbon Energy ETF

In short

FRNW Fidelity wrote its own clean energy index, then priced the fund at 0.39% a year, matching the category's cheapest heavyweights and undercutting most rivals. Roughly 60 global stocks: solar, wind, and the grid gear behind them.

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

FRNW The fund seeks returns that generally track the Fidelity Clean Energy 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

• FRNW 0.39% a year ties the low-cost leader of the group (ICLN) and comes in under CNRG at 0.45% and FAN at 0.61%. In a theme where fees often run higher, that is real money kept.
• Global by mandate, not US-only. The index reaches clean energy companies worldwide, so the fund follows the industry rather than one country's subsidy calendar.
• A plain index fund, not a stock-picking bet: it aims to track the Fidelity Clean Energy Index before fees, so what you own is spelled out in the methodology.
• One of the stronger builds in a crowded clean energy shelf on our review, with the low fee and a spread-out portfolio doing the heavy lifting. Pays quarterly.

• 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

• FRNW One theme, one industry. Clean energy names swing with interest rates, policy shifts, and equipment prices, so the ride is far choppier than a broad market fund.
• Roughly 60 stocks. That is focused enough that a handful of names and a couple of countries carry real weight in the outcome.
• Not one of the giants. A mid-size asset base and moderate trading activity can mean wider bid-ask spreads than the category's most heavily traded funds.

• 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 FRNW profile⁠

Full SMOG profile⁠