Financial Times, 29 June 2005 - The US and Europe differ over many things, some ordinary - such as what kind of game football is - and some vital to the core of our respective, varied cultures, helping to keep us distinct and, in turns, engaged and exasperated.

Still, there are many more areas where we agree and I believe we are now moving toward increasing agreement on an issue that is neither ordinary nor unique to the US or Europe: that we must revolutionise how we produce and consume energy and commit firmly to reducing emissions in our shared environment.

Diminishing oil and natural gas reserves, reliance on imported and sometimes unstable energy sources, price volatility and global climate concerns demand that we do so. It will require three elements: the brain-power to develop new technologies, a market that is open to them and the wills of our elected leaders, those in industry and those committed to progress.

It will take work to gather these elements together but the prospect of success is growing. Since the 1990s, innovations in dramatically cleaner energy have emerged, not just in the US and Europe but in China, India and elsewhere. Their common denominator has been a target of higher efficiency, lower cost and fewer emissions - such as that found in cleaner coal applications that could shave millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from emissions levels. As these technologies take hold, we enhance our potential to succeed, but a viable market must exist. Signs of such growth are emerging, both in companies and the capital markets.

In June alone, two of Silicon Valley's top venture firms invested nearly Euros 33m (Pounds 22m) in solar energy companies. While such "clean tech" investment represented just 2.6 per cent of North American venture capital in 2004, that is double the level of 2000. In a recovering capital market, these numbers show that we are crossing the threshold where solving energy and environmental problems is the profitable thing to do as well as the right one - and where fewer pounds of emissions can mean more pounds on the bottom line.

General Electric is putting its money where its mouth is. We have committed to doubling annual investment in clean energy technology research and development to Euros 1.25bn. Instead of a top-down approach that could potentially stifle creativity and innovation, we are investing most new funding at the research level, making sure that these new funds go directly into those innovation engines that offer the most promise. We also plan to double energy-efficient product revenues over the next five years and will make big cuts in our greenhouse gas emissions. If GE were to continue to grow as we project, by 2012 our emissions would have gone up more than 40 per cent. Instead, we are committing to reduce them by 1 per cent.

Climate change will top the agenda at the Group of Eight summit next week and we support the European Commission's proposed directive to improve energy efficiency and manage energy demand. We also applaud the UK government's decision to invest Pounds 40m in cleaner electricity generation from coal and gas as well as for hydrogen and fuel cells. But these commitments and the prospect of exciting new technologies mean little if leaders on both sides of the Atlantic - along with industry and other stakeholders - cannot work together to develop coherent processes and consistent policies.

In the US, the lack of a coherent energy policy has slowed the exploitation of new innovations. While great progress has been made, we have failed to realise fully the opportunities that exist in wind, solar, clean coal, nuclear power and other renewable resources. The result is that the US has watched Europe and others advance, strengthening their economies and security.

I am not talking about "one-policy-fits-all" but consistency. GE has business in hundreds of countries and more than 300,000 workers - more than 85,000 in Europe alone. To remain competitive, we cannot navigate a regulatory maze that forces us to modulate every product and process to suit individual regulatory regimes at their whim. All that we ask for - and this will allow us to grow as a healthy, responsible company - is consistency.

Policies that commit to market-based approaches will drive innovation and lead to environmental improvements. The US and Europe stand at a crossroads, where the co-operative efforts of governments, industries and stakeholders can change the course of the world. Taking the proper path will not be easy, cheap or quick. But nothing worthwhile ever is.