While in some cases there is still a yawning gap between rhetoric and reality, European businesses are rapidly going green -- albeit driven more by profits and regulations than a desire to do good.

Whether it is car makers, electricity generators, retailers or builders, the green tide is rising as scientists and politicians warn of approaching catastrophe caused by the carbon gases resulting from burning fossil fuels for power and transport.

"In many cases business has been in the lead. It is realising the future will be much more carbon constrained," said former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern who published a seminal report last year on the economics of climate change.

"Everywhere you look you see businesses taking decisions with carbon costs in mind," he told a conference.

From mega-retailer Wal-Mart, which aims to get all its energy from renewable sources, to construction firms aiming for energy efficient buildings, businesses are cleaning up their acts, driven in large part by steep rises in energy prices.

Even Major oil companies are investing heavily in green technology to sell an environmentally caring image, and in the knowledge that the future lies in clean energy.

CORPORATE BANDWAGON

In short, money is a driver of green business.

British environment minister David Miliband had this message for politicians and businessmen in February: "Political parties won't be electable, and companies will not be profitable -- or at least will be less profitable -- without credibility on environmental issues."

But the substance still falls short of the marketing, some critics say.

Christian Aid, an agency of British and Irish churches, has said British firms were massively under-reporting the amount of carbon they emitted by deliberately excluding their overseas subsidiaries.

And the Association of Corporate Travel Executives has called on all companies and business travel providers to do more to close the gap between declared good environmental intentions and actual practice.

But at the Prince of Wales' Business and the Environment Programme at Cambridge University, corporate executives from across Europe are flocking to learn the message.

"Our members see this not just as an issue of moral responsibility but a chance to take a lead. It is a business opportunity," said programme spokeswoman Emma Dowen.

In boardrooms, being seen to be green has become a selling point, an investment in public relations, as well as helping the bottom line by trimming costs.

"Some of this is based on wanting to do the right thing for the environment. But handily for businesses, most of the initiatives they are undertaking have the impact of lowering costs as well," said analyst Bryan Roberts of Planet Retail.

"It has become part and parcel of how a company is perceived. Even though some of these initiatives might be expensive in the short term, they can be considered as as an investment in public relations," he said.

UPHILL STRUGGLE

Britain's third biggest retailer, Marks & Spencer Group, announced a 200 million pound (US$386 million) plan to make the firm carbon neutral, stop sending waste to landfill and get key raw materials from sustainable sources.

Not to be outdone, Britain's biggest retailer, Tesco, said it would quantify and display the carbon footprint -- the amount of carbon gas generated in the production, packaging and transport -- of every product it sells.

Retailers have also announced plans to cut the 13 billion plastic bags used in Britain each year.

"This is about a whole culture change in the companies. It is not just one or two people looking at waste minimisation," said Nigel Smith of the British Retail Consortium. "There is a surge of greenness, very noticeably over the past 12 months."

Power generators are joining in, spreading their investments across the spectrum from proven low carbon technologies such as wind farms to new ones such as carbon capture and storage -- partly hedging their bets, partly anticipating legislation.

But it is not just supply that is being targeted. Demand too is in the firing line.

"We want to change the way our customers view and use energy," Simon Skillings, strategy director in Britain for Germany's E.ON told Reuters.

"It is a huge challenge for energy suppliers. But it is one we are determined not to lose," he said.