GII vs UPGR

GIIAState Street SPDR S&P Global Infrastructure ETF

UPGRCXtrackers US Green Infrastructure Select Equity ETF

In short

GII Toll roads, airports, pipelines and power grids in one ticker. GII has tracked the S&P Global Infrastructure Index since 2007, an early entrant in the category, and charges less than the typical infrastructure fund.

UPGR Clean energy, but wider. UPGR tracks a US-only index that reaches past solar panels into green mobility, green fuel and pollution control, and it charges less than every top-ranked fund in its peer group.

Stated mandate

GII The fund seeks to track the total return of the S&P Global Infrastructure Index. That index provides exposure to large publicly listed infrastructure companies across transportation, utilities, and energy infrastructure.

UPGR The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Solactive United States Green Infrastructure ESG Screened Index. It generally invests at least 80% of its assets in the index's component securities and at least 80% of net assets plus investment borrowings in equity securities of U.S. green-infrastructure companies.

Why people hold it

• GII Tracks an index of 75 of the largest listed infrastructure companies, screened for float and liquidity, spread across transportation, utilities and energy infrastructure in developed and emerging markets.ssga.com
• 0.40% a year against a 0.55% median for infrastructure ETFs. The cheap end of a category that often is not cheap.
• Live since 2007, so the record covers the financial crisis, a decade of low rates and the 2022 rate shock. It rates among the strongest implementations in its infrastructure peer group.

• UPGR 0.35% a year, well under the roughly 0.59% typical for clean-energy ETFs and below peer leaders ICLN and FRNW at 0.39%.
• Wider net than solar and wind: the index spans green mobility, green fuel, green wholesale power, environmental services and pollution control.dws.com
• US-only by design, while category heavyweights like ICLN and FAN run global books.
• Straightforward mechanics: passive indexing, roughly 50 names, at least 80% of assets in the index's own components.

Worth knowing

• GII IGF follows the same index for 0.37%, three basis points less. GII's own trading is moderate rather than heavy, so spreads count alongside the fee gap.
• Roughly 70 stocks across three sectors and several currencies. A focused, globally scattered book that can behave quite differently from a broad world equity fund.ssga.com
• Distributions arrive on an annual or semiannual schedule, so cash lands in lumps rather than monthly.

• UPGR Small asset base and thin trading, which tends to mean wider bid-ask spreads. Small funds also face a higher chance of being closed or merged away.
• One theme, one country. The issuer's own materials note results depend greatly on the condition of the green energy sector, and roughly 50 names concentrates that bet.dws.com
• The ESG screen is Solactive's definition of green, not yours, and a 2023 launch leaves a short record to judge.

Full GII profile⁠

Full UPGR profile⁠