Siemens CEO Says Asia Leads in 'Green' Investments

By PATRICK BARTA
Asian countries, backed by giant economic-stimulus packages, are leading the world in investments in "green" technologies, the chief executive of Siemens AG said in Singapore Thursday.
Siemens CEO Peter Loescher said in an interview on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that countries such as China have moved more quickly than the U.S. to spend their stimulus packages, and are increasingly doing so on high-tech, low-pollution technologies such as high-speed trains.
"If you ask us where we sell the most advanced technologies" now, he said, "it's Asia and China." China's economic rebound and spending programs are turning out to be "stronger than one would have anticipated," he said.
The company also released the results of a study it sponsored suggesting the latest economic crisis may ultimately stimulate greater spending on green technologies. According to the study, based on a poll of academics, government employees and others in more than 40 countries, more than half of the respondents said they thought the crisis would aid their country's progress toward sustainable development, in some cases by encouraging spending on technologies that reduce energy consumption and pollution.
Some analysts have questioned whether spending from stimulus packages will generate as much long-term demand as expected for fuel-saving and other green technologies. Some countries, including the U.S., but also some Asian nations such as Thailand, have run into bureaucratic and other delays in implementing their spending plans.
With billions of dollars of money unused and signs of asset bubbles emerging in some parts of the world, some economists have suggested governments should begin reining in stimulus efforts and perhaps leave some expenditures unfinished, or risk crowding out private sector investment and whipping up inflation.
But Mr. Loescher said that Siemens, whose high-tech motors, power systems and other products make it a beneficiary of many stimulus packages, is sticking to earlier estimates of the windfall it could receive from government spending. He said the company is expecting about €15 billion ($22.5 billion) in orders for Siemens equipment from stimulus packages by 2012.
"I'm still very encouraged by how they're being rolled out globally," he said, though he added, "I've not heard anyone talking about additional programs" of stimulus spending.
Siemens announced earlier this week that the company generated €23 billion in revenue from products in its so-called "environmental portfolio" in fiscal 2009, an increase of 11% from the year before, despite the global recession. The portfolio of products includes wind power systems, gas turbines, energy-efficient lighting and other products.
Siemens has highlighted a number of energy-efficient projects it is collaborating with Chinese officials on, including a 1,400-kilometer power distribution "superhighway" that will transport 5,000 megawatts of power from the country's interior to its coastal cities, and building automation systems in Shanghai that Siemens said will cut energy costs and reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions.
Mr. Loescher said he continues to believe the global economy will achieve a sustainable recovery. It "will definitely come back," he said. "The question is how fast it will get back to levels of 2007 and 2008."
Write to Patrick Barta at patrick.barta@wsj.com