Green: "Glimmer amid the gloom"

Remember the "Green economy"?

Solar panel economics has changed as mass production has made them more affordable, though subsidies have also been cut

4 January 2011 - When the global bank HSBC came to name its latest report on the green economy, "Glimmer amid the gloom" was its optimistic choice.

In the midst of a worldwide recession, 2010 kicked off with a global failure to reach a deal on measures to tackle climate change.

By the year's end, hopes were so low that a limited and non-binding agreement at a follow up conference was almost universally praised.

Yet HSBC may be right to identify a glimmer behind the headline failures.

The bad {continued}