Middle East green economy, sustainable energy should mean opportunities not sacrifices (page 2 of 2)

A lot of the sovereign funds are increasingly interested in financing large scale renewable energy installations. The region could definitely be a large part of the solution for mitigation."

The current global spend for long-lasting infrastructure for water, transport and energy, tallies up to $6 trillion a year - around 10% of global GDP. Glemarec cites estimates that this will increase to $10 trillion by 2020. If it was feasible to ensure that these investments were low emission and climate resilient, it would completely change business models worldwide:

"There are pressure points in the global economy which could enable us to dramatically accelerate towards a green society. If 20% of the infrastructure spend is from the Arab region, that is a $2 trillion spend by 2020, designed to foster a rapid transition toward a green society.

One of the problems with renewable energy is intermittency; the wind does not always blow and the sun does not always shine. "But if you take a quadrant large enough," says Glemarec. "Let's say from Dublin to Moscow, from Oslo to Cairo - from there in that quadrant, the sun always shines and the winds always blow."

The necessary steps will obviously vary between countries, but a green economy transition calls for a host of big investments in infrastructure and renewable sources of energy and energy saving technologies and economic development which is job oriented. Then it's the policy which will define environmental impact, shaped by an improved awareness of the issues - and a greater sense of urgency.