The geography of cleantech ventures
The recently published PLC Private Equity Handbook includes a chapter on The geography of cleantech ventures authored by Charles Fletcher.
Background
Notwithstanding the disappointment of the Copenhagen conference in December 2009, which was the 15th conference of parties (COP15) in the Framework Convention on Climate Change, climate change continues to play an increasing role in the international political agenda. As the economic consequences of climate change and government policy (both international and domestic) become clearer, venture capital (VC) investors and VC-funded companies face a number of challenges and opportunities.
This has given rise to the broad "cleantech" sector of VC investment. Within cleantech, there are various identifiable sub-sectors including:
- Energy generation.
- Energy storage.
- Energy infrastructure.
- Energy efficiency.
- Transportation.
- Water and wastewater.
- Air and environment.
- Recycling and waste.
- Agriculture.
The term cleantech is a broad one applying to commercial technologies, making the best use of natural resources.
Against this background, the article examines the:
- Current market and growth in cleantech investments.
- The financing environments in:
- Europe;
- US;
- Israel;
- China;
- India.
Lawyers Charles Fletcher
This article was written by Charles Fletcher and first published in the PLC Cross-border Private Equity Handbook 2011 Volume 2: Venture Capital and is reproduced with the permission of the publisher, Practical Law Company.
