Interestingly, the business of eco is emerging faster than expected as each industry begins to share their goals and aspirations for a better future. Who knew? Total investment is now over $500 billion annually. As many as 4000 green entrepreneurs are building new businesses to roll-out solutions to our most pressing challenges at an unprecedented rate and scale. Here’s what several industry experts are saying about this commitment:
"Investments in renewable energy hit a record $30 billion last year – that’s a whopping 25% of the total investment in energy worldwide. The clean technology era we are entering is being compared in scale to the rise of the telecommunications industry in the 1980’s. This is a gigantic opportunity and is the next huge wave of innovation, of investment opportunity, of business creativity."
-World Business Council for Sustainable Development Website
"I think the greatest legal creation of wealth today is in the green area – not just in the US, but in the developed world. There will be an enormous amount of new green technology, new wealth and we are trying to create the Googles, the Microsofts of the new era."
-Bill Joy, Co-Founder of Sun Microsystems and Partner at VC Firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
"We will establish partnerships with our customers to tackle their most pressing environmental challenges and double our research spending to develop the products and services they need. And we will use these technologies to improve our own energy efficiency and environmental performance. Increasingly for business, ‘green’ is green."
-Jeffrey R. Immelt, CEO, General Electric
"If you were here five years ago you’d see a lot of ponytails. Now these conferences are packed with suits."
-John V. Veech, Managing Director of
Lehman Brothers at a standing-room only
Renewable Energy Conference in June.
