Fund managers are unlocking more money for renewable energy from the companies they invest, closing in on the lead fossil-fuel projects have in raking in cash.
Among the companies held by public market funds, for every $1 of capital expenditures for oil, natural gas and coal projects, 80 cents went to low-carbon energy supply like solar and wind power at the end of 2025, according to analysis by BloombergNEF. That ratio has been rising for the past few years, but it’s still short of the level that would deliver net-zero emissions.
BNEF’s Energy Supply Fund Ratio (ESFR) 2026 report highlights that asset managers are unlocking an increasing amount of capital for clean energy build out. Fixed income and private markets funds typically have higher ratios, but they support less energy spending than listed equity funds.
The ESFR measures the volume of capital expenditures (capex) enabled by funds in low-carbon assets against the proportion going to fossil fuels. The report includes data for more than 85,000 exchange-traded, mutual and private market funds. It is part of BNEF’s suite of Energy Supply Ratios, which track the climate progress of financial institutions.
Company spending tilts toward clean energy
The latest ESFR analysis shows the ratio of clean energy to fossil-fuel enabled capex rose to 0.8 last year from 0.73 at the beginning of 2024. The raising ratio for public-market pooled investment vehicles shows an increasing tilt toward clean energy.
The main driver was a rise in low-carbon capex for portfolio companies, compared to that of fossil-fuels. Spending on power grids accelerated, translating into $36 billion of fund-enabled capex.
Vanguard and BlackRock dominate enabled energy capex in public market funds. The world’s two largest asset managers enabled more than the remaining top 10 largest managers combined. Their ratios both stayed relatively flat over 2025. European and Asian asset managers have higher ratios than their American peers, but they enable considerably less capex.
Tracker funds give managers less influence over where to put money
Most fund capital supporting energy investments sits in large, diversified funds that track broad stock indexes. Funds tracking the S&P 500 represent half of the 10 largest funds by enabled capex. The ratio of S&P 500 fell in 2025 due to changes in companies included in the index. Companies like natural gas producer Expand Energy joined, while renewable energy equipment manufacturer Enphase Energy exited after its market capitalization fell. Managers offering S&P 500 trackers had to reflect those changes. This illustrates the limited influence managers have on ESFRs for passive funds.
Investors have access to funds with high ratios, but they are typically thematic strategies and account for considerably less capital. For portfolio companies, these funds represent a relatively small pool of capital, although fund inflows have picked up since 2025.
Credit and private market funds biased toward low-carbon investment
Fixed income funds were more strongly biased toward clean energy investments than equity funds. Credit funds enable $1.2 low-carbon capex for every $1 that went into fossil fuels. Lower-carbon companies typically take on more debt than fossil-fuel companies to pay upfront for assets like wind and solar farms. Equity funds have a lower overall ratio of 0.7.
Private markets remain the area where investors can find the cleanest portfolios. They represent the asset class with the highest ESFRs at just over 1.2. Institutional ESFRs vary widely among large private managers, giving investors a broader variety of options than the leading players in public markets. Newer funds tilt more towards clean energy and have more dry powder available to be invested. This should continue to support higher private market ESFRs relative to other asset classes.
