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WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (OneWorld) - Business and governments are vastly increasing their investments in solutions to climate change and other environmental problems that threaten the global economy, says a new report from a leading environmental think tank.

© Worldwatch Institute"Pioneering entrepreneurs, nongovernmental organizations, and governments...are field-testing a remarkable array of economic innovations that offer surprising and hopeful new opportunities for long-term prosperity," said researchers from the Worldwatch Institute Wednesday, launching their "State of the World 2008" report.

Over $100 billion in capital flows are now being redirected each year to meet environmentally sustainable ends, said project co-directors Gary Gardner and Thomas Prugh.

Renewable energy, which received an estimated $66 billion in investments in 2007, and carbon trading, which saw a trebling of activity on its markets between 2005 and 2006, are leading the field, they said.

"Some of the most powerful players in today's economy have announced breakthrough environmental initiatives in the past two years," according to the report, which notes particularly the efforts of Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, McKinsey & Company, and Wal-Mart.

Representing just one of millions of pioneering new business plans, Wal-Mart recently announced it would outfit refrigerator cases in more than 500 of its stores with a light-emitting diode, or LED, lighting system. LED-powered lights save energy as they emit more light per watt than incandescent bulbs and reduce waste as they have longer lifespans than traditional bulbs.

This simple switch is expected to save Wal-Mart $3.8 million a year and reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 65 million pounds.

"Participating in the construction of this enduring new economy is exhilarating. So is the quality of life it will bring. We will be able to breathe clean air. Our cities will be less congested, less noisy, less polluted, and more civilized." - Lester Brown, Earth Policy Institute

These eco-friendly business efforts come not a moment too soon, said Worldwatch, as recent studies have shown that the devastation caused by global climate change could cause world economic output to decline by as much as 8 percent this century.

"State of the World 2008 finds growing evidence suggesting that the global economy is now destroying its own ecological base," the report's authors said.

In order to stave off "economic collapse at the global level," the study's authors call for "major reforms of government policy to steer investment away from destructive activities such as the extraction of fossil fuels and toward a new generation of environmentally sustainable industries."

In fact, 27 leading American corporations, including Dow Chemical, General Motors, and Xerox, have joined joining many U.S. states and municipalities in demanding that the federal government pass stricter legislation regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

But many analysts suggest that a global economic transformation will require sustained action not only from policy makers, but also from entrepreneurs, investors, consumers, and manufacturers.

"State of the World 2008" cites the story of entrepreneur David Oakey, the head product designer of the carpet company Interface, which pulls in a predominantly green profit of roughly $1 billion a year.

To create his innovative and environmentally friendly product, Entropy, Oakey sent his design team out into the forest "to find out how nature would design floor covering."

© Worldwatch InstituteThe team eventually concluded that the forest floor, albeit extremely beautiful and strangely peaceful, constituted complete chaos. Born from this revelation was the design idea of "a carpet tile such that no two tiles have the same face design. All are similar but all are different."

The ecological advantages of Entropy, conceived of through the procedure known as "biomimicry," are many. The carpets are made with recycled content in a climate-neutral factory and the production and installment processes barely produce any waste. Many contend that ecological benefits also accrue as its design improves users' overall state of mind.

Oakey's carpets demonstrate what the State of the World report calls biophilia, or the theory that "humans gravitate to nature for the perfect comfort zone."

A speaker on an environment lecture circuit reinforced the validity of this claim when she repeatedly asked her audiences to close their eyes and picture their "ideal comfort zone of peace and repose, of solitude, creativity, security." Almost everyone pictured a space outdoors, she said.

This relationship between environmentalism, economic prosperity, and human happiness is driving many of those at the forefront of the eco-transformation occurring within the U.S. economy.

As "environmental guru" and Earth Policy Institute director Lester Brown writes, "Participating in the construction of this enduring new economy is exhilarating. So is the quality of life it will bring. We will be able to breathe clean air. Our cities will be less congested, less noisy, less polluted, and more civilized. A world where population has stabilized, forests are expanding, and carbon emissions are falling is within our grasp."

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