Published: November 6, 2024 |

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Shares in European clean energy groups plummeted on Wednesday after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, as investors fretted over a potential dismantling of U.S. support for renewables and climate policy.

Trump had vowed to scrap offshore wind projects through an executive order on his first day in office and to roll back climate regulations implemented under President Joe Biden.

That includes leaving the Paris Agreement, under which countries pledge to limit global warming, and potentially undoing Biden’s flagship Inflation Reduction Act, which provides massive subsidies and incentives to clean energy technologies.

The world’s largest offshore wind developer Orsted fell 10 percent while wind turbine makers Vestas and Nordex traded down around 8 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

“The key message is that uncertainty is back,” Alphavalue analyst Pierre-Alexandre Ramondenc told Reuters.

The U.S. renewables market is a key growth sector for several European utility companies, including Portugal’s EDP Renovaveis, Orsted, and Germany’s top power producer RWE
according to Deutsche Bank analysts.

“A full repeal of the IRA would depend on Congress, although significant changes might be possible,” Deutsche Bank wrote in a note to clients.

Shares in RWE, which also has wind assets, fell 3.4 percent, while EDP Renovaveis, traded 7.7 percent lower.

Vestas, Orsted, and EDP were the biggest decliners on the pan-European STOXX 600 index

EDP declined to comment while RWE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Source: Reuters

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