DALIAN, Sept. 12 (Xinhua）-- As green economy is widely believed to be able to bring a sustained growth for the world, it still faces various difficulties in promotion and development in an unbalanced world.

    Barbara Judge, chairman of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, said at the Summer Davos forum that investment was needed for the development of green economy.

    At the three-day forum which ended Saturday in Dalian, northeastern China's Liaoning Province, participants discussed a lot about the green economy as the world's economy is seeing a slow and fragile recovery.

    Liu Xiaoguang, president and chief executive officer of Beijing-based Capital Group, told Xinhua that the green economy was the requirement for the world economy to recover from the current financial crisis and would be a driver of sustained growth in the future.

    "The green economy will trigger a new round of industrial revolution globally, and it will become the new global economic growth locomotive," said Liu.

    Green economy or low-carbon economy, generally refers to a kind of sustained growth model which features environment-friendly technologies, more use of renewable resources and low emissions.

    "We must develop low-carbon energy and reduce our reliance on traditional fuels," said Wan Gang, China's Minister of Science and Technology at the forum.

    Under the pressure of a double crisis, financial and climate, some developed countries are striving to add more green color to their economies, as a way out of recession and to create more jobs.

    The British government in July issued the Low Carbon Transition Plan that plots out how the country will meet its emissions targets by cutting 34 percent by 2020, from 1990 levels.

    The United States will provide 2.3 billion U.S. dollars in tax credits to manufacturers of clean energy equipment as part of the country's 787-billion-dollar stimulus package.

    Despite the good prospects of green economy, its development still faces various difficulties due to high costs and prices of products and the low acceptation by customers in many countries.

    Liu Xiaoguang said the green economy needed supporting policies and the establishment of industry standards.

    There were many stimulus policies in developed countries, but few in the developing nations, said an attendee at a special seminar of the forum.

    "Another problem is that some multinationals would rather accept fines than fulfil their environment protection obligations in developing countries," said the participant.

    "Double standards should be banned in green economy development," he said.

    As most of advanced clean technologies are in the hands of developed nations, cooperation was much needed to promote green economy in poor nations, said another participant.

Special Report: Summer Davos in Asia (2009)