Private equity firms have cultivated greater interest in renewable energy during the past few years and with many governments paying more attention to renewables, offering subsidies to encourage investment in the sector, it appears their timing could not have been better. But can the pace of growth be maintained?

The accident at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and tsunami has led many countries to slow down or cease their nuclear energy programmes.

Sir David King, former chief scientific advisor to the UK government, believes the UK's policy-makers and financiers fail to support its promising low-carbon sector. The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, which he heads, is working to change that.

The UN climate meeting in Cancun was widely viewed as being more productive than the 2009 event in Copenhagen, but many in the carbon trading markets came away feeling that too little had been achieved.

Chandran Nair, founder of the Global Institute for Tomorrow, argues that Asia should instead be brave in imposing limits on the exploitation of resources.

A workable way of financing renewable energy must be found before it is too late - and there are no more excuses, regardless of the state of the world's economy.

Undeterred by the harsh economic climate, banks continued to announce green IT initiatives throughout the crisis, but are these projects motivated more out of concern for the bottom line than the environment?

Much was expected but little emerged from the climate talks in Copenhagen in 2009. As the financial crisis hit, discussion about the cap and trade system got pushed back. In Europe, market participants are worried about the move from government-allocated carbon credits to market auctions.

Whatever happens at the UN meetings in Copenhagen this December, the carbon markets will have to re-examine the structures put in place by the Kyoto Protocol, not least the Clean Development Mechanism. But is it beyond repair or just in need of a tune-up? Writer Jim Kharouf