Climate change is forcing the world's economies to embark on a new industrial revolution. The environmental industry creates growth and jobs, with German companies leading the way worldwide. But how much longer can it last? And what is the cost of the boom?

On the outskirts of Gustrow, a town in northeastern Germany, 20 tent-like structures rise from the Mecklenburg plain. From a distance, the scene looks like a circus convention. But if anyone were to enter the circular structures, he would not encounter a joyful menagerie of people, animals and circus sensations, but immediate death by suffocation.

The giant, airtight tanks are filled with corn silage, tons of chopped up stems, grains and leaves, which is fermented at 36 degrees Celsius (96.8 degrees Fahrenheit) for 10 weeks. The process, which yields biogas that contains methane, mirrors what happens in a cow's intestines, says businessman Felix Hess, but with one difference: "We capture the gas."

Hess, 49, picks up a handful of the corn substrate, crumbling it between his fingers. It smells fresh and slightly sour, "which is exactly the way it should be," he says.

An engineer by trade, Hess has fulfilled his dream. After working for years as a strategic consultant, he wrote a business plan and, together with three partners, founded the bio-energy company Nawaro, an abbreviation, in German, for the words "Renewable Natural Resources." The plant the four partners designed in Gustrow is something the world has never seen before. In a few weeks, the world's largest biogas production plant will begin operating at full capacity for the first time.