The financial crisis will trigger a recession in developed economies which has negative implications for the climate change sector. The epicentre of the financial crisis is property, banking and consumer markets — none of which directly impact spending on climate change. But nobody escapes the effects of a recession. CFOs will block discretionary spend on voluntary offsets, CEOs will stall climate strategy development, investors will avoid high risk propositions and policy-makers will water down costly climate change plans. Despite the turmoil the climate change sector will continue to grow in 2009 due to its distance from the most affected markets, support from compliance drivers, alignment with cost savings programs and equity-funded business models.
