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Ditlev Engel, president and CEO of Vestas Wind Systems discusses the wind power industry's long road to prominence.

What do you think are the main industry drivers — business, government or consumers?
There is a rich interplay among diverse drivers in the green energy industry. For their part, public policies play a crucial role in the energy sector – and have for many decades.

Driving green growth requires recalibrating the incentives and disincentives to clearly favour green growth. In order to harness wind energy fullest potential, the sector needs long-term stable national policies that provide the industry with the necessary opportunities to plan and invest in employees, technology and production facilities.

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The bottom line message is clear: policy does matter. If our political leaders are serious about green growth they need to foster the right “growth environment” with a new balance between incentives and disincentives that indisputably favours green energy.

A new balance that creates the market conditions to enable industry to what it does best: forge innovative, efficient and profitable solutions to the challenges we face globally.

Industry leaders will do their part to create green growth and a low-carbon energy future. But it is a two-way street. Our message to the political leaders is simple: “Give industry the policy frameworks, we’ll give you the results”.

We’ll make the investments, we’ll take the risks, and we’ll create the jobs. A big part of rebalancing the incentives and disincentives is eliminating fossil fuel subsidies.

Another is putting a price on carbon, high and stable enough to change people’s behaviors and investment decisions. A third is allowing free trade in green goods and services.

Green investments have high upfront capital costs and long payback horizons. Industry doesn’t need guarantees – it needs public policies that are transparent, long-term, and certain.