China is again world leader in clean energy technology

A report by the World Wide Fund for Nature reaffirms China’s status as World Number One in clean energy or cleantech manufacturing.

The third edition of WWF’s Clean Economy, Living Planet ranked 25 countries based on the 2011 sales of the cleantech products they manufacture such as solar panels and wind turbines.

It found that based on total cleantech sales value, China had the largest market followed by the USA and Germany. In terms of clean technology sales weighted to the size of the economy, Denmark kept its first place ranking followed by China and Germany.

Sales from manufacturers in many countries in Asia and the Americas continued to increase, said the report. On the other hand, European manufacturers have seen their sales remain stable or drop.

The top five fastest growing cleantech manufacturing hubs for 2010 and 2011 were Taiwan (+36%), China (+29%), India (+19%), South Korea (+19%) and the US (+17%).

The global sales value of the cleantech sector increased by 10% to almost €200 billion in 2011. By 2015, the cleantech sector is expected to rival the oil and gas equipment market and should reach a forecast market size between €240 billion and €290 billion.

WWF suggested that countries with a strong position in cleantech manufacturing today have the best prospects to capitalise on the expected strong growth in the future.