NEW YORK — Investment banks insist that climate change is not a fad and say this will be the year when returns start coming in Climate change has been on investment banks’ radar screens for more than a decade. But the promise of high returns from the renewable energy sector has until recently failed to materialise. Progress has been hindered by regulatory tussles about emissions, unproven technologies, weak performance from some public companies, difficulty in valuations and patchy investor demand. However, investment bankers expect this year to be the one when the sector delivers. They spent the past 12 months building their teams to take advantage of the well-financed wave of companies focused on emissions technologies, clean coal and other forms of new energy technologies. John Cavalier, head of alternative energy investment banking at Credit Suisse, said: ‘Some people say this is a bubble and a fad. We know this is for real and people need to understand that climate change is a scientific reality. We believe the drivers today are permanent drivers.’ Andrew Safran, global head of energy, power and chemicals investment banking at Citigroup, said: ‘The alternative energy sectors, while not huge today, […]