FRNW vs VCLN

FRNWAFidelity Clean Energy ETF

VCLNCVirtus Duff & Phelps Clean 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.

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

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

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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 FRNW profile⁠

Full VCLN profile⁠