Forum for the Future, a sustainable development charity, has published a great article chronicling the recent ‘Chorus’ of political and business leaders envisioning CleanTech as one of the key areas investors will turn to as the financial markets recover.
It asks questions like ‘Will Obama force Detroit to take the Green Road?‘ and makes a case for a rise in interest in CleanTech in light of the current environment of:
a) Volatile Resource Pricing
b) Fears of Peak Petroleum
c) Flight to Tangibles
It also contains some headline worthy quotes from thought leaders such as Nicholas Stern, former World Bank Chief Economist, who said
This Recession will be Big, but Climate Change will be Bigger
and Merril Lynch’s CleanTech Strategist, Steven Milunovich, who refers to its rise as the ’6th Industrial Revolution’ and projects that solid investments in the field include:
1) Energy Efficiency
2) Electric Cars
3) Wind / Solar Powered Microgrids
With Geothermal Energy and Biofuels as Dark Horses.
Currently, like all new business ventures, CleanTech is deeply reliant on debt financing, however if the ‘Chorus’ is anything to go by, this could change very quickly with investors incorporating alternative risk criteria into their decision making.
As the freomr CPO of BT, Meryl Bushel has had a long and distinguished career in procurement – she has also been talking about sustainability for far longer than it’s been fashionable, so she has a great understanding of the issues. I’d love to hear what people think of her theories.