Preparation methodology
Net asset value is data as of November 9, 2021, calculated based on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Most of the personal wealth of those on the list must come from companies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as renewable energy sources or electric vehicles. When billionaires and/or their relatives are associated with the same company, their wealth is grouped together. The green NAV figure does not include wealth unrelated to the corresponding activity. Pledged shares are not included.
Elon Musk's hefty fortune comes from a revolutionary electric car company that is accelerating the demise of internal combustion engine cars that account for 10 percent of the world's carbon emissions. While Musk has drawn resentment and is open to dramatic changes — as recently as early November, he asked netizens on Twitter for advice on whether he should sell 10 percent of Tesla — he also made it clear that green investing has great potential to get rich.
Bloomberg Green's 15 billionaire rankings reflect the explosive growth in the electric vehicle, battery and solar sectors. Not all of their wealth comes from companies that are related to climate change and whose core products are greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Musk, for example, has a net green asset value, or his portion of his wealth associated with electric vehicles and solar energy, at $247.9 billion — 86 percent of his wealth — but not his stakes in other industries like space rockets.
Overall, the total green wealth of the 15 billionaires mentioned above is about $500 billion, which is Chevron Corp. It has more than doubled its market capitalization, an increase of 41% from the last time Bloomberg updated the list in February. A large part of this increase came from Tesla, which was boosted by the soaring stock price due to increased production, profit growth and the inclusion of constituents of the S&P 500 index last year. That has created wealth for Tesla's large and small shareholders, and has also made one of its largest shareholders, Leo KoGuan, an investor living in Singapore, on his own to enter the list.
Green billionaires are getting richer. As government policy orientation and soaring natural gas prices have boosted demand for solar panels, The ranking of China's solar billionaires has risen rapidly. Data from Bloomberg Industry Research shows that after record growth in 2020, the growth rate of new installed solar capacity is expected to reach more than 20% as expected this year. Since February this year, the total wealth of the richest people in the solar sector on the list has more than doubled.
80% of the listed billionaires are from China, highlighting China's pre-eminence as a manufacturing hub for cleantech products.