In September last year, I did a blog entry looking at the green technology boom. In that blog, I was looking at the prospect of green investment making the investment in the Internet look like small change. There’s a good reason for that. Just as the Great Depression gave rise to businesses like television and the electric razor, this recession will usher in new industries in green technology. And that means massive investment opportunities.
This is why it’s not surprising to read reports that George Soros has announced he will invest $1 billion in clean-energy technology and donate $100 million to an environmental advisory group to aid policymakers. Soros says he will apply stringent criteria to the investments. “They should be profitable but should also actually make a contribution to solving the problem,” he says.
All of this makes sense and gives some context to the way corporations have walked out on the US Chamber of Commerce over its stance on climate change, something I covered in blogs here and here. As New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki points out here, corporations are starting to realize that few companies are going to benefit from the melting of the polar ice caps. Global warming isn’t just bad for the planet, it’s bad for business.
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