Clean energy and carbon-related companies raised a total of $1.6 billion in 37 separate transactions on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) over 2006, according to research firm New Energy Finance. The investment marks an increase of 67% on the total of $984.1 million raised in 2005.

With 50 such stocks quoted on the exchange with a total market capitalisation of $7.8 billion, overall the sector yielded a 16.8% return to investors. However, Michael Liebreich, chief executive of New Energy Finance, warns that individual stocks may significantly under perform and there is no obvious pattern among the top-performing equities. Nonetheless, “Going into 2007, [it is] clear that clean energy has moved into the mainstream of the energy industry and has a major role to play in combating climate change,” said Liebreich.