Companies see a lack of organizational focus, insufficient investment and a lack of perceived relevance as common barriers to success.

Summary: Cleantech opportunities vary both by country and by sector. Interestingly, respondents from China were the most likely to see the need to adapt corporate cultures and strategies to prioritize cleantech in coming years.

Investing in cleantech takes the sixth position on our 2011 opportunity ladder. Despite the sector-specific nature of this opportunity, on the whole, respondents across the sectors expect its impact to rise as we move toward2013.

Opportunity outlook and impact

Overall, cleantech ranks in the middle of our list of opportunities for companies in 2011. In practice, however, cleantech tends to hold a significantly lower or higher priority for individual organizations, depending in part on the respondent's region and sector.

Sector perspective

• Cleantech is the second highest priority overall for power and utilities firms, due in part to the important role played by green technologies and clean energy in this sector.
• Cleantech is also the fourth highest priority in the public administration and oil and gas sectors.

Looking ahead to 2013:

• Oil and gas and public administration see the impact falling.
• Power and utilities see it unchanged.

Geographic view

• Cleantech is of particular importance to Western European firms, reflecting the growing importance of environmental issues across the region.
• In France, cleantech is perceived as the third most important opportunity facing businesses.

Investing in cleantech

Obstacles to success

The most commonly identified barriers to investing in cleantech include:

• A lack of organizational focus
• Insufficient investment in technology
• A lack of perceived relevance for the sector

Challenges to investing in cleantech, as reported by organizations surveyed

Responding to the opportunity

The two most frequently reported factors underlying successful investment in cleantech are:

1. A perception that it is relevant to the innovation strategy of the organization
2. Expectation of a growth in the market for green and eco-friendly products and services

Factors enabling investing in cleantech, as reported by organizations surveyed

Sector strategies

With the exception of the banking industry, in all sectors surveyed, a majority of respondents reported that cleantech was either a key initiative, or ought to become one because it was rising in importance.

This finding perhaps accounts for the high position of this relatively specific opportunity on our ladder.

Geographic approaches

Although cleantech is not currently a top priority for organizations in China, executives at firms based there were the most likely to see a need over the coming years to adapt their corporate cultures to prioritize cleantech issues.

This suggests that the world's second largest economy may be on the verge of more widespread involvement in green innovation.

In terms of organizations already having implemented measures to develop this opportunity, the UK led at 94% of respondents followed by Germany at 81%.

Organizations' responses to investing in cleantech

Percentage reporting that cleantech is a core element of culture or strategy, by sector

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