Execs in solar, wind, ethanol and electric vehicles top Forbe’s list of green billionaires
Brazil’s Rubens Ometto , Germany’s Aloys Wobben and Elon Musk of the US all made Forbes Magazine list of the world’s greenest billionaires this year, and according to the magazine, they and their counterparts on the list breathe a rarified air, being but a fraction of the 1,226 billionaires currently inhabiting the Earth.
Forbes’ conclusion: “It’s far easier to live a semi-green lifestyle than it is to mint riches off a clean tech company.”
But we say, why spoil the party? There’s still plenty of time to make the list next year.
Forbes’ top ten is broken down below. The first dollar figure represents the individual’s “green net worth,” the second, their total net worth. Sandwiched in between is the source of their fortune.
Aloys Wobben $2.3 billion Enercon (wind turbines) $2.3 billion
Rubens Ometto $1.9 billion Cosan (ethanol) $2.7 billion
Zhu Gongshan $1.4 billion GCL Poly Energy (solar) $1.7 billion
Elon Musk $1.2 billion Tesla, SolarCity $2 billion
Fan Zhaoxia $1 billion Beijing Jing. Tech (solar) $1 billion
Christy Walton $570 million First Solar $24.8 billion
Adi Godrej $480 million mangrove preserves $2.9 billion
Jamshyd Godrej $480 million mangrove preserves $2.9 billion
Vinod Khosla $350 million Kior, Amyris, startups $1.3 billion
Rishad Naoroji $240 million mangrove preserves $1.4 billion
The magazine notes that some of the wind turbine billionaires who made the “richest green billionaires” list last year no longer have 10-figure fortunes because the stocks of companies like Sinovel Wind have plunged.
Christy Walton, who topped the list last year because of her investment in First Solar, has dropped to sixth place due to a massive 85% plunge in the stock price over the past year.
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