Sweden and its ETF Beat the World at a Greener Reality

August 18, 2008 at 1:00 am by Tom Lydon

When it comes to alternative energy, Sweden is one of the countries leading the green revolution, could this be what the iShares MSCI Sweden Index (EWD) needs? King Carl XVI of Sweden is scheduled to visit Michigan in September to discuss alternative energy topics, while there are Swedish companies already involved in state of the art energy ventures in Michigan, reports Tom Walsh of Freep.

Sweden has declared a mission to be the world’s first oil-free economy. Within 15 years they plan to wean themselves off oil without building any new nuclear energy plants. John Vidal for The Guardian reports that the Swedish government plans to replace all fossil fuels with renewables before climate change can destroy economies and oil scarcity leads to huge price rises. The Swede’s are ready to launch their high speed “green” train, the Grona Taget, which will operate on current railway infrastructure so there is no need to lay new tracks or waste the old ones. Top speeds have reached 183 MPH on test runs, and energy use will be cut by 30% by operational costs and journey times, reports Ariel Shwartz for Clean Technia .

EWD is down 15.5% year-to-date and allocates 30.9% toward industrial materials; perhaps giving the ETF a chance to get green with it’s country.