Sun shines on California in Global Cleantech 100 list – for now | Adam Vaughan | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Sun shines on California in Global Cleantech 100 list – for now | Adam Vaughan | Environment | guardian.co.uk

California, as the Global Cleantech 100 list published in the Guardian today confirms, is still hot. Thirty-two of the rising stars in solar panels, energy efficiency, biofuels and more are based there.


But while the sunshine state and the US as a whole are still world leaders in innovating and selling green technology, as this map shows, it's also clear the Earth's axis for "cleantech" is shifting.


China holds just four slots on the top 100 list today, for companies working on solar lamps, LED lighting, waste treatment and batteries (China's low showing on the list is partly because the criteria, which focuses on innovation, excludes firms listed on major stock exchanges). But you can expect that number to shoot up as the "unstoppable upward path" of the country's low-carbon economy accelerates.


China now has three of the top 10 global wind turbine makers, about 50% of the global solar market and produced the world's first solar billionaire several years ago. The Chinese government spent an eye-popping $34.6bn (£22bn) on such industries last year – almost double what the US spent, according to report earlier this month.