December 2025 Sustainable Stock and ETF Picks. Covers America’s most responsible companies, AI infrastructure and renewable energy stocks, and more.

Transcript & Links, Episode 162, December 19, 2025

Hello, Ron Robins here. Welcome to my podcast episode 162, published on December 19, 2025, titled “December 2025 Sustainable Stock and ETF Picks.”

This podcast is presented by Investing for the Soul. Investingforthesoul.com is your go-to site for vital global, ethical, and sustainable investing mentoring, news, commentary, information, and resources.

Remember that you can find a full transcript and links to content, including stock symbols and bonus material, on this episode’s podcast page at investingforthesoul.com/podcasts.

Also, a reminder. I do not evaluate any of the stocks or funds mentioned in these podcasts, and I don’t receive any compensation from anyone covered in these podcasts. Furthermore, I will reveal any investments I have in the investments mentioned herein.

I have a great crop of 8 articles for you in this podcast! Note: Some companies are covered more than once.

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December 2025 Sustainable Stock and ETF Picks (1)

In this edition, I’m starting with a ranking of responsible companies. It’s titled America’s Most Responsible Companies 2026 on rankings.newsweek.com. It’s by Newsweek and Statista. Here are some quotes from the introduction by Jennifer H. Cunningham.

“According to a study by The Roundup, 84 percent of customers say that they are deterred from companies with poor environmental practices, and 62 percent ‘always or often’ specifically look for products that are sustainable.

That is why Newsweek is proud to partner with Statista for the seventh time to present America’s Most Responsible Companies 2026, highlighting 600 companies that are taking action each day to uphold their social responsibility. 

This ranking is built on an evaluation of company CSR/ESG or sustainability reports, financial reports, history of lawsuits and 2024 top polluter indexes from the Political Economy Research Institute. Additionally, over 30 KPIs were researched from the three areas of ESG—environmental, social and governance performance. Companies included in this ranking are American Tower (AMT), Ingersoll Rand (IR), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), NVIDIA (NVDA), and Tapestry (TPR ).”

End quotes

The top five companies in the ranking are NVIDIA (NVDA), Mastercard (MA), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Ecolab (ECL), and T-Mobile (TMUS).

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December 2025 Sustainable Stock and ETF Picks (2)

As renewable energy companies make gains, this article reviews some top companies in the sector. The article is titled Top 7 companies offering digital transformation solutions for renewable energy on azbigmedia.com. It’s by Eric Kelly. Here are some of his comments.

“1. DXC Technology (DXC)

builds Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems – DERMS for short. What that means in plain English: software that can juggle thousands of solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries at once.

Their renewable energy digital services do real-time forecasting and balancing. When a cloud covers a solar farm, the system already knows and has adjusted before anyone notices a flicker. They use predictive analytics to figure out what’s going to happen hours or days ahead, which matters when you’re trying to keep the lights on for millions of people.

2. Siemens Energy (ENR.DE)

Their Omnivise Digital Solutions covers pretty much everything – from the moment you build a power plant to the day you tear it down decades later. They make distributed control systems that pull data from every sensor, every turbine, every transformer, and show it all in one place.

What’s interesting is their edge computing for substations. Instead of sending all data to some central cloud and waiting for instructions, the processing happens right there on-site. Milliseconds matter when you’re managing a grid.

Siemens is also deep into green hydrogen tech. They’re working on projects in over 100 countries and their equipment generates about half the world’s electricity.

3. Schneider Electric (SU.PA)

built EcoStruxure. It connects hardware, software, and services to optimize energy use in buildings, factories, and grids.

Their new One Digital Grid Platform uses AI to manage planning, operations, and asset management all in one place. The AI automatically catches when the digital model of a grid doesn’t match reality – like when someone forgot to update the system after installing new equipment. Sounds simple, but that kind of mismatch causes real problems.

4. ABB (ABBNY)

make robotic systems for manufacturing solar panels, complete instrumentation packages for solar and wind plants, and the smart grid systems that tie it all together.

Their battery storage solutions are particularly interesting. BESS-as-a-Service means companies can use battery systems without buying them outright. For industrial users trying to cut electricity costs during peak hours, that’s huge. You get energy independence without the capital expenditure.

ABB supplies converters for the world’s biggest offshore wind farms and generators for hydroelectric plants.

5. GE Vernova (GEV)

is the spinoff from General Electric that focuses purely on power generation and grid management. They generate about 25% of the world’s electricity through their installed base of 2200 GW worth of equipment. 

Their Grid Orchestration Software uses AI to predict demand, optimize energy flow, and integrate all those distributed resources we keep talking about. Their Advanced Asset Performance Management system pulls data from information systems, operational systems, and engineering models to help people make faster decisions.

GE Vernova partnered with Amazon Web Services to accelerate cloud migration and bring generative AI into energy infrastructure.

6. IBM Energy and Utilities (IBM)

brings Watson and AI expertise to energy. Their Maximo platform manages assets, and Watson handles the heavy data analytics. They’re using AI to forecast renewable energy production, optimize maintenance schedules, and manage distributed resources.

IBM is also experimenting with quantum computing for modeling complex energy systems. Their blockchain platforms enable peer-to-peer energy trading – imagine selling excess solar power from your roof directly to your neighbor. They build digital twins that simulate how turbines, transformers, and entire grids will behave under different conditions.

7. Accenture (ACN)

isn’t selling hardware or software directly. They’re consultants who help energy companies figure out their entire digital transformation strategy. Sometimes the problem isn’t technology – it’s knowing which technology to use and how to implement it without disrupting your business.

They work with industry leaders on IoT, Big Data, AI, and cloud solutions. Their approach covers operational excellence, asset management, customer experience, and decarbonization. Renewable energy digital services from Accenture include predictive maintenance for wind and solar farms, platforms for managing virtual power plants, and real-time carbon emission monitoring.

They also help companies integrate ESG principles into operations and reporting.”

End quotes.

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December 2025 Sustainable Stock and ETF Picks (3)

This next article is titled Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights Bloom Energy, OPAL Fuels and FuelCell on finance.yahoo.com. It’s by Zacks Equity Research. Now, some quotes from the article.

“1. FuelCell Energy (FCEL)

Based in Danbury, CT, the company makes ultra-clean, highly efficient power plants that can run on fuels like renewable biogas and natural gas, producing electricity with far less pollution and fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fossil-fuel plants. In September 2025, the company announced its fiscal third-quarter results. The company reported a loss of 95 cents per share, which improved 45% year over year. The company’s top line also improved 97% year over year to $46.74 million.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FuelCell Energy’s fiscal 2026 sales implies an improvement of 21.5% year over year. The consensus estimate for fiscal 2026 earnings implies 51.3% growth year over year. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

2. OPAL Fuels (OPAL)

Based in New York, the company is a vertically integrated renewable fuels platform involved in the production and distribution of renewable natural gas for the heavy-duty truck market. During the third quarter, the company produced renewable natural gas of nearly 1.3 million Metric Million British Thermal units (MMBtu), which was up 30% year over year. The Fuel Station Services segment sold, dispensed, and serviced an aggregate of 38.9 million GGEs of transportation fuel for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2025, reflecting an increase of 1% year over year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s 2025 sales implies an improvement of 21.8% from the previous year’s reported figure. The estimate for 2025 earnings implies 128.6% growth from the previous year’s reported figure. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

3. Bloom Energy (BE)

Based in San Jose, CA, the company generates and distributes renewable energy. On Oct. 28, 2025, Bloom Energy announced its third-quarter results. It reported earnings of 15 cents per share against a loss of a cent in the year-ago quarter. The company’s top line also improved 57.3% year over year to $519 million.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 sales implies an improvement of 28.6% from the previous year’s reported figure. The consensus estimate for 2025 earnings implies 92.9% growth from the previous year’s reported figure. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).”

End quotes.

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December 2025 Sustainable Stock and ETF Picks (4)

This final review article makes a bold prediction on an AI infrastructure stock. The article is titled Prediction: This AI Infrastructure Stock Could Hit a $500 Billion Valuation by 2032 on fool.com and is by Thomas Niel. Here are some quotes from Mr. Neil’s article.

“Arista Networks (ANET)

A top provider of cloud networking solutions for end-users such as AI data centers, the company has already benefited greatly from this trend. Already a strong performer over the past five years, its shares may be in for further outsized price appreciation in the years ahead, as the AI growth trend persists.

How Arista benefits from the AI buildout

Arista Networks has been in business for over 20 years, becoming a billion-dollar business around 10 years ago. Still, it’s only been over the past three years that the company experienced a sustained growth resurgence.

The reason for this is hardly a mystery. In late 2022, ChatGPT launched, sparking the start of the genAI growth trend. Soon after, tech companies, especially the largest names in the space, began to deploy hundreds of billions of dollars into building out their AI infrastructures.

With this booming surge in demand, it’s no surprise that Arista Networks has benefited from a big jump in demand for networking hardware, like switches and routers, as well as the software used to power them…

This rapid revenue growth has brought with it a correspondingly high rate of earnings growth…

Next stop $500 billion? It’s possible

At current prices, Arista Networks has a market cap of around $161.3 billion. To reach a $500 billion market cap and a share price of around $400 within six years, at a minimum, Arista will need to sustain 20% annualized growth…

The bottom line for new or existing Arista Networks investors

Currently, Arista has a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just under 40. In the years ahead, even if annual growth stays around 20%, shares could experience a slight de-rating as investors anticipate a growth slowdown over a longer time frame…

Rather than entering or adding to a position at any price, you may want to wait for renewed worries about an AI bubble or whitebox competition to create new buy-the-dip situations.”

End quotes.

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More articles from around the world with Sustainable Investment Picks for December 2025.

1. Title: Sustainability ETFs Still Shining Despite Investor Pullback. Here are the 4 Largest on thedailyupside.com. By Kiran Aditham.

2. Title: Better AI Infrastructure Stock: Nebius Group vs. Iren Limited on fool.com. By Patrick Sanders.

3. Title: FCEL vs. BE: Which Hydrogen Power Stock Has Better Potential for Now? On nasdaq.com. By Jewel Saha for Zacks.

4. Title: EQR Named A Top Socially Responsible Dividend Stock on nasdaq.com. By BNK Invest.

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Ending Comment

These are my top news stories with their stock and fund tips for this podcast, “December 2025 Sustainable Stock and ETF Picks.”

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I wish you a wonderful time over the holidays and a terrific and prosperous 2026!

Thank you for listening.

My next podcast will be on January 23^rd.

See you then. Bye for now

© 2025 Ron Robins, Investing for the Soul