By Green Alpha® Investments, Next EconomyTM Investments
At Davos 2026 this week, amidst a global backdrop of rising protectionism and short-term thinking, He Lifeng, Vice-Premier of the People’s Republic of China, delivered a speech characterized by striking economic clarity.
While much of the Western financial ecosystem is currently distracted by ideological debates or trapped in legacy, extractive economic models, Vice-Premier He cut through the noise with a focus on what we at Green Alpha Investments call the Next Economy.
His message was an explicit invitation to align capital with the existential industrial shift of our lifetime. But beyond the invitation, his speech implicitly confirmed a macroeconomic reality we have long observed: China is rapidly becoming the world’s first major “Electro-State.”
Productivity is Sustainability
Vice-Premier He’s call to develop “new quality productive forces” resonates deeply with our thesis. We believe that true wealth creation is driven by productivity gains—getting more output from less input.
In the 21st century, sustainability is productivity.
Transitioning from combustion to electrification, and from linear consumption to circular efficiency, is the ultimate productivity unlock. It removes the massive inefficiencies of waste, pollution, and thermal loss inherent in the fossil-fuel economy. China’s aggressive push into green infrastructure isn’t “environmentalism”—it is a ruthless drive for economic efficiency and superior wealth creation.
Investing in the First Electro-State
We applaud Vice-Premier He’s long-term vision. At Green Alpha Investments, we reject the outdated models of extractive capitalism (the “Friedman doctrine”) that prioritize financial engineering over productive capacity. We run high-active-share, uncorrelated portfolios focused exclusively on the 10+ year march toward a post-scarcity Next Economy.
We believe our approach reflects a differentiated perspective within the U.S. investment landscape, informed in part by our experience launching an EU SFDR Article IX recognized UCITS vehicle.
Our portfolio reflects our conviction that China is the prototype for the modern Electro-State. The following companies are illustrative of areas within the Chinese electrification stack where we maintain portfolio exposure:
- The Battery Backbone: Powering the global grid and EV revolution with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL).
- Solar Leadership: Driving the marginal cost of energy to zero with JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (JKS).
- The Future of Mobility: Defining the autonomous and electric transport network with NIO Inc. (NIO), XPeng Inc. (XPEV), Pony.ai (PONY), and Niu Technologies (NIU).
These holdings are selected based on our assessment of their potential relevance to the integrated circuitry of the world’s first fully electrified major economy. The wisdom at Davos lies in recognizing that the transition to indefinite sustainability and post-scarcity is the only path to what is perhaps the most consequential economic transitions in history. We stand ready to bridge Western innovation with Chinese industrial scale to build that future.
Green Alpha is a registered trademark of Green Alpha Advisors, LLC. Green Alpha Investments is a registered trade name of Green Alpha Advisors, LLC. Green Alpha also owns the trademarks to “Next Economy,” “Investing in the Next Economy,” “Investing for the Next Economy,” “Next Economy Portfolio Theory,” and “Next Economics.” Green Alpha Advisors, LLC is an investment advisor registered with the U.S. SEC Registration as an investment advisor does not imply any certain level of skill or training. Nothing in this post should be construed to be individual investment, tax, or other personalized financial advice. Please see additional important disclosures here: https://greenalphaadvisors.com/about-us/legal-disclaimers/
At the time this article was written and published, some Green Alpha client portfolios held long positions in CRISPR Therapeutics (ticker CRSP), JinkoSolar Holding Co (JKS), NIO Inc. (NIO), XPeng Inc. (XPEV), Pony.ai (PONY), Niu Technologies (NIU). These do not represent all of the securities purchased, sold, or recommended for advisory clients. You may request a list of all recommendations made by Green Alpha in the past year by emailing a request to info@greenalphaadvisors.com. It should not be assumed that the recommendations made in the past or future were or will be profitable or will equal the performance of the securities cited as examples in this article. Not all Green Alpha separate accounts or our sub-advised mutual fund held the stock mentioned. To inquire whether a specific Green Alpha portfolio(s) holds stock in any particular company, please call or email us.