"Carbon army" hopes to grab slice of New Deal cash

By Gerard Wynn

LONDON, Oct 30 - A growing "carbon army" of environmentalists, bankers and investors has seized on official backing last week for major public spending announced in Britain and the United States.

They see it not just as a way to boost flagging economies, but also as an opportunity to promote investment in green energy projects.

In times of downturn, spending on infrastructure can prime demand, provide work and avert depression, a lesson learned from U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s.

Green projects that would be candidates include wind and solar farms, efficiency programs to curb demand for carbon-emitting fossil fuels, and "scrubbers" to absorb carbon dioxide from smokestacks of coal-burning plants.

"You're going to have a classic green stimulus, and when you talk about infrastructure it's about renewables, it's the power grid, the water sector, buildings, energy efficiency and public transport," said Mark Fulton, global head of climate change investment research at Deutsche Bank.

A $3.3 trillion bank bailout pledged by governments in the past month contrasts with the lower costs of measures that could dent the world's energy demands and cut carbon emissions at a time of dwindling resources and rising populations.

The narrow time-frame to create jobs and spur the economy, however, does not match the long lag time to develop large-scale renewable energy projects, where colossal investment is required. These would include technologies such as off-shore wind, tidal power and carbon scrubbers, which are still being tested or require planning consent.

Energy efficiency projects, for example to insulate homes, may fit the bill.

A program to halve global energy demand growth by 2020 would cost $170 billion per year and knock $900 billion off annual fuel bills by then, say researchers McKinsey.

"There could be thousands of jobs in the UK generated over the next 12 to 24 months by simply reducing the carbon footprint of buildings," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

"It doesn't take billions of dollars."

Steiner was in London for the launch last week of the UNEP "Green New Deal," meant to stimulate the use of economic tools to promote investment in the environment, such as carbon pricing under Europe's emissions trading scheme launched in 2005.

On Monday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown advocated an increase in borrowing to shore up the economy, backing efficiency spending.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke last week supported a second fiscal stimulus plan to add to the bank bailout.

LOW-CARBON PROJECTS