It is time to stop wringing our hands about environmental problems such as climate change and lack of landfill capacity and start solving them. Solutions to these problems exist, often in the form of emerging enterprises, but they need financial backing. This is where private equity can help.

Private equity investment in the clean energy sector exceeded $70bn (€51bn, £35bn) in 2006, up by more than 40 per cent on the previous year*. Wind power is a well established territory, with solar and, more recently, biofuels also attracting headlines about substantial investment from large private equity players. Profits are substantial too.