Global revenue at firms providing climate change-related products and services grew by a record 75 per cent during 2008 to $530bn (£324bn), making the fast-growing sector larger than the aerospace and defence industries.
That is the conclusion of HSBC's annual review of its climate change indices, which assess the financial performance of firms that provide goods and services designed to cut carbon emissions or support climate adaptation measures.
The report found that climate change-related revenue at listed firms has already exceeded the $500bn a year that economist Lord Stern predicted would be generated by the sector in 2050, while the number of people employed in climate-related activities globally has doubled since 2004 to more than 2.4 million.
According to the report, there is now "compelling data" to indicate that climate change-related products and services represent a rapidly growing component of the global economy and little evidence that the sector's rapid growth will be damaged by the worldwide recession.
The report states that "despite concerns that the global economic turmoil may have dampened business and government support for addressing climate change, and tighter credit markets have undoubtedly played their part in slowing financing for renewable energy projects, there is strong evidence that governments have remained committed while policy makers have continued to favour strong and rising climate components as part of their fiscal plans".
It predicts that if governments continue to make good on pledges to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy and businesses maintain investments in climate change-related products and services, the sector can expect to be worth more than $2 trillion a year by 2020.
The report also argues that advocates of the low-carbon economy have categorically won the argument that addressing climate change can deliver substantial commercial benefits for those companies that are first to develop more environmentally sustainable business models.
"Our analysis shows that companies and industries around the globe are taking action not only to reduce their impact on the climate, but also to deliver goods, products and services that address the issues of a changing climate," the report states. "We expect this momentum to continue as more companies recognise that climate change and economic prosperity are not competing, but closely aligned issues."
Report co-author Joaquim de Lima said that the figures proved that business resitance to the transition to a low carbon economy is on the wane. "What the report shows is the business world is adapting models towards a low carbon environment - and, as we can see in the Index, are proving that this is an economic opportunity as well as a social issue," he observed.
In addition, the report highlights the emergence of powerful clean technology hubs, noting that climate-related revenue was worth more than $100bn to the US and Japanese economies last year, while France and Germany each saw their listed firms generate more than $80bn from the climate sector.
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