I'm Elena Casas.

Our sector today is renewable energy on our expert on the sector is Ross Gerber, president of Gerber Kawasaki.

Investors have stormed into alternative energy ahead of the start of Joe Biden's presidency.

According to Lipper data, funds that primarily invest in solar, wind and water around the world saw an inflow of $4 billion in the week to January 13th on.

While the oil and gas sector has languished, renewables have flourished.

The S and P Global Clean Power Index, which is tracked by the biggest clean energy funds, is up wait for it 145% in the past year.

Since the beginning of January, it's managed an 8% rise.

Some of this is down to a likely shift in US policy.

President elect Joe Biden has vowed to rejoin the Paris climate accord exited by President Donald Trump.

He's also pledged to tie the U.

S economic stimulus to tackling climate change.

But will the sector live up to the hype to find out?

I'm now joined by Ross Gerber of Gerber, Kawasaki Ross.

Thanks for joining us.

I'll talk about some of the concerns in a moment.

But first, why is the sector is so hot right now?

Is it just down to the Joe Biden factor?

Well, no, it's not just the Joe Biden factor.

It's also the factor of the fact that the need for dealing with climate change is just enormous and the time is running out.

So you have this combination of a lack of time, enormous cost to the global economy because of climate, whether it's fire or hurricanes or whatever.

And and so now, with Biden coming in and the, you know, laser focused on handling and tackling this problem, it's just going to create a huge opportunity for these companies over the next decade.

But now that much of the sector is seeing sky high evaluations, do you think there's any risk going into 2021?

Well, of course.

I mean, obviously the sector clearly values this change in policy.

Um, and I think that with all good investments, oftentimes you have to pay more than you want to get in.

But I think as a long term investor, this is the sector you want to be in.

You have to be in if you want to make above average returns and and were heavily invested at my firm in clean energy and climate, what we call the climate change trade because there's just, I think, a ton of money going to go into the sector.

So although valuations are high and there's risk, the reward is also potentially high.

So how would you advise investors get into the sector right now?

Well, for most investors, I think the easiest way to invest in sectors like climate is through an E T f e t s like t a n, which is really solar and renewable energy E T f or L I T.

Which is lithium and battery technology, which gives you exposure.

Is there and, of course, pure plays like Tesla, which is just one of the few really pure plays on climate with solar and TV production.

So there's many ways to play, uh, investing in the entire supply chain for solar and renewable energy as well as e v cars.

So you know, there's lots of opportunity in the sectors, but E T s give you broad exposure, and I think it's a good way to do it.

Thank you so much.

That was Ross Gerber of Gerber Kawasaki.

Now, before we dio, here are some of the hot stories from the sector.

Canada is scrambling to salvage the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project after it became apparent that incoming President Joe Biden plans to cancel a permit for the $8 billion project on environmental grounds.

The pipeline is intended to carry 830,000 barrels per day of Alberta crude to Nebraska.

The provincial government said Monday it had a solid legal basis to seek damages if the project is canceled by presidential Fiat.

French Oil major total announced its paying $2.5 billion for a share in India's Adani Green Energy and its solar power assets.

Total says it wants its biggest investment yet in renewables as it joins other oil majors that have Bean under pressure to tackle climate change.

Onda Group of Japanese companies including Toshiba and Nissan, have called on the government to raise its 2030 renewable energy goal to 40 to 50% of its energy mix.

Renewable energy accounts for only 18% of the current mix on Japan is in the midst of a nationwide electricity shortage that saw wholesale prices surged to a record high earlier on Tuesday.

In a long 92 Japanese companies from a wide range of industries signed up to the Japan Climate Initiative, saying Japan needed to be a global leader in D carbon ization and that's your roundup of the renewable energy sector.

I'm Elena Casas and this is Reuters.