"I hope that this year will be the year that something actually gets done"

Last week, we asked six leading green business experts what they are expecting from the 12 months ahead. Here's what they said:

Matthew Farrow, head of environment at the CBI

What will happen in 2008?
British business will continue to show it is fully committed to tackling climate change, not least through the follow-up to the recent CBI Climate Change Task Force report.

What will not happen in 2008?
Hope I’m wrong, but I doubt that there will be any major breakthrough in the post-Kyoto negotiations. However, there could be some steady progress made that bears fruit in years to come.

What would you like to see in 2008?
EU ETS Phase II working well, with a meaningful carbon price giving business an incentive to invest in cost-effective abatement opportunities.

Dale Vince OBE, founder and managing director of Ecotricity

What will happen in 2008?
2007 was the year the world woke up to the reality of climate change. It was the year in which an unarguable consensus emerged - that climate change is real, requires urgent action if we're to keep the planet habitable and will be cheaper to deal with than to ignore.

So I hope that this year will be the year that something actually gets done. We need to take some bold steps to fight climate change and at the forefront of that is the need to build wind turbines in every region of the country. The way we make conventional electricity is the single biggest cause of climate change in our country today and changing that has to be our top priority.

What will not happen in 2008?
Gordon Brown saying no to new nuclear power stations, unfortunately! The nuclear industry is a failed experiment, a near bankrupt industry the government had to step in and save a couple of years ago. The current nuclear fleet cost £50bn to build, and produced 20 per cent of our power in the UK - for the same sum of money we could power the whole of Europe with wind energy. Even with billions of public money invested, it's still not able to stand on it's own two feet - quite incredible really. Economics of the madhouse... and now it seems the government wants to do it all again.

What would you like to see in 2008?
Climate change cannot be prevented with words, it needs deeds. My one wish would be for the UK's planning authorities to stand up to the NIMBY minorities who oppose wind farm applications based on myth and scaremongering. It's time that the planning process recognised both the urgent need and the majority support for wind energy. Maybe it's time we all spoke up.

Peter Ainsworth MP, Conservative shadow environment secretary

What will happen in 2008?
Sadly, we're going to see a continued reduction in global biodiversity.

What will not happen in 2008?
The Marine Bill will not become law.

What would you like to see in 2008?
Advances in technology that enable more people to work from home would be welcome.

Clemens Betzel, president G24 Innovations

What will happen in 2008?
Despite a general market slowdown, investments in renewable energy will provide great opportunities. Demand will continue to be higher than supply and growing awareness of climate change will add to this. Businesses across a range of sectors and countries will start to embrace the opportunities that advances in solar technology such as Dye Sensitized Thin Film have presented.

What will not happen in 2008?
Sadly, we will not (yet) see the concerted effort required to halt the negative effects of global warning. Especially developing economies will not yet want to embrace decisive measures for fear of losing economic momentum. However, growing awareness will drive change rapidly in the course of 2008.

What would you like to see in 2008?
More flexible planning rules for on-site generation and comprehensive government incentives such as feed-in tariffs and building standards to incentivise investment in renewables. We at G24 Innovations would love to receive full permission to erect our own wind turbine, making us the first UK business to make green products only with green energy. From small acorns...

Janet Blake, head of Global CSR at BT Global Services

What will happen in 2008?
I think we'll see a shift from the current emphasis on environmental responsibility to a broader focus on making businesses more socially and economically sustainable as well. These efforts can't happen in isolation.

Consumers will continue to up the ante this year, putting more and more pressure on businesses to think about how they approach environmental issues. If businesses feel this pressure pinching the bottom line I think we'll see more action in 2008.

What will not happen in 2008?
Unless businesses start to really embed sustainable business principles and practices in their organisations, the scepticism about greenwash is unlikely to go away fast.
According to our research, businesses say that ensuring senior management set the right standard, and encouraging employees to adopt new ways of working, are two of the biggest challenges. Unless business leaders actively address these challenges I fear we will see continued scepticism about companies failing to walk the talk when it comes to sustainability.

What would be your one green business wish for 2008?
That we can trust society to continue to question business about their social responsibility and that substance wins over spin.

Vicki Bakhshi, climate change adviser for investment bank F&C's governance and sustainable investment team and a former climate change adviser to 10 Downing St

What will happen in 2008?
We think that the solar sector will see continued expansion, driven by the emergence of new technologies. We are particularly excited about the potential for building-integrated photovoltaics, which can be built into roofing, glass or walls, providing much more flexibility than standard rooftop modules. F&C's Global Climate Opportunities Fund is exposed to this trend through its holding in SunTech Power, which is developing a whole range of these products.

What won't happen in 2008?
Despite the high oil price, we don't think that 2008 will be the year the biofuels sector takes off. In the ethanol market, we think that excess capacity and high grain prices will squeeze profits. And the sector as a whole is likely to be dogged by continued concerns over environmental sustainability.

What would you like to see happen?
We'd like to see more consistent, long-term government incentives across the renewables industry. We'd particularly like to see governments get their act together on policies for carbon capture and storage. This is a key technology for the future – but it will remain on the drawing board without decisive support from governments.