An additional investment of more than $10 trillion will need to be used globally by 2030 to combat climate change, which means each country must invest 1 percent of its GDP, he said.

"Countries that have already started developing a green economy will take the lead in this era, and it's exactly what Denmark has done in recent years."

At the closed-door China CEO Roundtable on April 9, executives of multinationals' China operations exchanged views on how to find profit in green solutions.

"Green is real business, and it's not just CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility] activities," Dell Greater China President Amit Midha told Beijing Review at the forum, adding that using these technologies could also save corporations' money.

Dell's solutions in this respect include replacing 30 percent of its servers with newer ones, and installing simple software that shuts down computers worldwide within the company, which will cut the company's electricity costs by 40 percent, Midha said.

Zhang Yaqin, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft and Chairman of Beijing-based Microsoft Asia-Pacific Research and Development Group (ARD), said Chinese executives at the roundtable saw more opportunities than challenges in China' commitment to a green economy.

"While green growth in a physical sense refers to carbon emission reduction, low-carbon production, consumption and lifestyle, and development of alternative energy, I think it's more important, especially for companies in China, to build their capacity of sustainable growth on better corporate management, better business models and corporate culture," Zhang told Beijing Review. "This will also help China tackle the challenge of shifting from a manufacturing base for consumer goods to a provider of knowledge- and technology-intensive products and services through industrial updating."

Quoting a McKinsey&Co. report that said the general application of information technologies will help cut global carbon emissions by 15 percent, Zhang said the information technology will help reduce the carbon footprint within the industry, improve energy efficiency within huge data centers, and cut energy consumption and pollution in traditional industries where it is applied to streamline production processes.

"We need a resolution and clear strategies in green-related efforts, which I think China has already had. We also need some incentives such as tax rebates on energy efficiency to encourage companies' green investments. And companies need to be aware of business opportunities within green commitments—it's more than a responsibility," Zhang said.

Simple, yet practical

At the April 10 panel on low-carbon energy, panelists agreed low-carbon commitment provided a rare opportunity for nations to look for a new growth engine while boosting domestic consumption.

Rob Dudley, Executive Director and Executive Vice President of BP Group, defined "low-carbon energy" as inclusive of low-carbon production, low-carbon consumption aimed to improve efficiency of energy use and developments of all kinds of alternative energies such as solar power, wind power and biofuel—all aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions.

But given the fact that most nations in Asia are export-driven developing countries, Asian countries have to consider what are the most practical, efficient and economical technologies for them to pursue low-carbon growth.

"Breakthroughs in clean-coal technologies or technologies in improving the efficiency of coal-fired power generation will greatly contribute to cutting carbon dioxide emissions as coal will remain the dominant energy for countries like India, Indonesia and China," said India's Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh during the discussion. "It's only too romantic to think Asian countries with huge populations could rely on solar and wind powers."