50% of clean tech companies optimistic

Nearly 50 percent of China's clean tech companies expect the market to continue growing rapidly next year while 9 percent, mainly in the renewable energy sector, predict development bottlenecks, according to a Deloitte report.

Hit hard by the global slowdown, Europe's debt crisis and tight financing curbs, renewable energy solar firms were negative, Deloitte said.

Still, David Pearson, the global leader for clean tech at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd, said he's "very optimistic" about the overall development prospects of China's clean tech industry, which also includes recycling, green transport and energy saving.

"The number and quality of Chinese entrepreneurs continue to increase," he said in an interview yesterday in Shanghai. ''The pipeline of clean tech ideas and solutions is probably stronger now than it has ever been."

But he cautioned that challenges remain as the IPO market is almost closed for clean tech firms while venture capital firms are not as keen as they were before.