The “Financial Times” is, for my money, one of the best sources out there, consistently, for news and insight into the ever-burgeoning universe of green technology and the business of green, and all the attendant politics and economics. The good folks at the FT have just launched a new series on green tech. (Caveat: You have to register for most articles – free for up to 10 articles a month.)
One of several articles kicking off the series is about the recent rebound in the stock markets that has been particularly pronounced in the green tech sector. The piece, by the FT’s ace environmental reporter, Fiona Harvey, notes that although investment in green tech plummeted last year and early this year along with the downturn in the world economy, the markets have been looking up. “Share prices rose 36 per cent between April 1 and June 30, according to the WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index, a widely watched index in the sector. That compares with a recovery of 15 per cent in the S&P 500.” Some of the upturn is attributable to economic stimulus packages in various countries. These have, in many cases, not begun to fully drive some of the activity they’re intended to effect.
One analyst quoted in Harvey’s article “…estimates that more than $512bn of the global stimulus outlined so far will be devoted to ‘green’ projects, though the full effect on clean technology companies will not be felt until the end of this year through to 2011. ‘With expected multiplier effects, the total spending impact now tops $1,000bn,’ he says.”
The FT has other in-depth series on topics relevant to what we’re looking at here at the blog. One useful webpage has a series of video reports on the Business of Carbon Management. Then there’s the ongoing section on climate change.
On the subject of green tech having its day, the FT’s lead editorial yesterday, China waves its little green book, says “Some think Beijing’s greening is a ploy to dominate the next growth industry. If so, it is a ploy to be welcomed. Would it not be gratifying if China, instead of feeding the west’s consumer boom, sold it the tools for sustainable growth?” Works for me, particularly if the PRC starts leapfrogging the old fossil-fuel-driven paradigm and building out its own green infrastructure so as to mitigate its now-considerable impact on the climate system.
