But we need another kind of industry-led growth: Green Industrial Revolution. Rather than limiting growth, such a revolution can, and should, form the core of our response to climate change. The potential is there for new, clean methods of production; industries focusing on mitigation and adaptation services; and greater use of renewable energy.

But why green industry? Because, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), industry accounts for a third of global energy use and almost 40% of worldwide CO2 emissions. We should switch to clean and renewable energy to power our economies; improve the efficiency of our energy, material and water use; and practice conservation. Energy efficiency is the most cost-effective, least polluting and the most readily-available industrial energy savings option available in the industrial sector worldwide. Capturing these potential end-use energy-efficiency improvements rapidly is essential to keeping greenhouse gas emissions to safe levels.

There is also significant potential to reduce, at low or no cost, the amount of energy used to manufacture goods. In the IEA's stabilisation scenario for greenhouse gas emissions, over a quarter of all energy-efficiency gains need to come from the industrial sector by 2050. Changing our present paradigm of development will not be easy. But many countries in Asia are already taking concrete steps to encourage and expand the use of clean energy and improve their resource efficiency. China has reduced the energy intensity of its economy by over 60% since 1980 and expects to reduce it further by 20% by 2010. It plans to double the proportion of energy it uses from renewable energy sources by 15% in 2020. China has also become the world's leading renewable energy producer in terms of installed generating capacity and has now surpassed Japan as the world's largest manufacturer of solar photovoltaic technology. It is also expected to become the world's leading manufacturer of wind turbines this year.