Investor Daily: Betting on climate change - Oct. 27, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO (Fortune) -- With markets whipsawing day to day, and former blue chip companies in tatters, what investors want is a safe haven for their money. Ironically, climate change, that global environmental trend that could bring about the end of not just the stock market but civilization as we know it, may be that haven, suggests a just-released report by Deutsche Asset Management, the asset management arm of Deutsche Bank.

"The current economic downturn presents governments with a historic opportunity to climate proof their economies as they upgrade infrastructure as a core response to the economic downturn," writes Mark Fulton, global head of climate change investment research for Deutsche Asset Management.

The argument Fulton and his colleagues put forth is that sectors that play in the climate change world, including clean energy, emissions technology, transportation and water among others, possess more reliable earnings going forward because of what they view as inevitable government support. Not only that, the market is huge.

The International Energy Agency estimates that about $45 trillion will be needed between now and 2050 to bring new clean-energy technologies to market. Some of that money will come from investment by private equity shops and venture capital, but vast amounts will come from government...if governments don't step in, those projects are dead in the water. Then again, if nothing is done about climate change, so are we all.