The manager overseeing Janus Henderson Investors’ flagship sustainable fund says there’s little to indicate that Donald Trump’s anti-green rhetoric will derail the rally gripping clean-energy stocks.
“Last year was a perfect example,” says Hamish Chamberlayne, head of global sustainable equities and a portfolio manager at Janus Henderson. “Everyone was worried” that Trump’s return to the White House would spell the end of renewables. Instead, “it was a fantastic year for renewable energy stocks,” he said in an interview.
Chamberlayne, who runs the $2.4 billion Janus Henderson Global Sustainable Equity Fund, says he now regrets he wasn’t bolder in piling capital into the rebound that gripped green stocks in 2025.
“I wish we’d invested even more in it,” he said. And going forward, “we still see a very strong investment environment for renewable energy.” That’s as the main S&P index tracking clean energy stocks is on track for its best January since 2019.
Trump kicked off his second term by signing executive orders designed to eradicate ESG and DEI. His administration has followed through on those threats with efforts to block offshore wind projects and by ending tax credits that had supported the low-carbon economy. And at this year’s meeting of the rich and powerful in Davos, organizers agreed to downplay climate change in order to get Trump to attend.
But capital has continued to flow into renewables. The main S&P equity index tracking clean energy has soared 64% over the past 12 months. An S&P index tracking oil stocks, meanwhile, has added about 13% in the period while the broad S&P 500 Index is up 15%. Green equities have gained as investors bet demand for electricity will keep rising amid a broader electrification trend that favors renewables.
The fund Chamberlayne runs is designed to comply with the European Union’s strictest sustainability criteria, known as Article 9. That means it won’t buy directly into the defense-sector rally that many other sustainable investors have embraced. Instead, the Janus Henderson fund is heavy on technology stocks including Nvidia Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., according to holdings data compiled by Bloomberg.
It also has stakes in water management firm Xylem Inc., which added 17% last year, as well as solar services firm Nextpower Inc., the Bloomberg data show. Nextpower added 138% in 2025. Chamberlayne says he’s maintained the fund’s aggregate exposure to renewables in recent months.
The fund’s overall heavy exposure to Big Tech and financials, including insurance, has contributed to its underperformance versus the S&P Global Clean Energy Transition Index in the past year. But over the past three years, it’s delivered 11% compared with a 11% decline in the index.
“Just because climate has fallen down the agenda, we don’t think it has as much of an impact as people think it might in respect of changing the investment opportunities,” Chamberlayne said. The International Energy Agency is among bodies noting that demand for all forms of energy is on the rise due in large part to AI.
“Overall energy demand is growing, and renewable energy is low-cost and quick to deploy,” Chamberlayne said. “In many markets, there are incentives to use renewable energy.”
Pham writes for Bloomberg.