Key Takeaways

• Sustainability-focused indexes have nearly kept pace with—or even outperformed—the broader US stock market so far in 2026.
• Semiconductor stocks drove gains, keeping ESG indexes relatively in line with the broader market, despite characteristic underweights to energy stocks.
• Software stocks detracted from the performance of sustainable strategies, while key AI infrastructure companies Monolithic Power and Micron contributed with their energy-efficient power solutions.

Big-name software stocks have struggled this year, while energy stocks have soared. This may sound like a recipe for significant underperformance in sustainable investing strategies, which tend to own many tech and few or no energy names. Instead, while some…