Global consultancy giant Ernst & Young has announced ambitious plans to build a dedicated cleantech division capable of generating more than £100m (US$158.8 million) of revenue within the next three to five years.

The company confirmed that it has appointed Steven Lang, an 18-year veteran at Ernst & Young, to head the new division in the U.K. and Ireland.

Lang will initially manage a team of more than 100 people providing a range of advisory and tax consultancy services to clients in the clean energy and clean technology sectors.

However, he has also been tasked with overseeing a major recruitment drive designed to build a team of about 300 clean technology specialists.

"We expect to substantially increase our revenues from this rapid-growth sector to more than £100m within the next three to five years," he said. "To support this major market push we will be recruiting professionals at all levels, from graduates to partners, with specific cleantech experience to provide our existing and future clients with the insight and advice they will need to create value, drive growth at speed and establish competitive advantage."

The world's largest auditing firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and Ernst & Young, have all invested heavily in developing new services to support the fast-expanding clean-technology sector in recent years.

For example, KPMG recently appointed outgoing U.N. climate change chief Yvo de Boer as an advisor, while both Deloitte and PwC have acquired specialist green consultancy firms over the past year.

However, Ernst & Young claims to be the first of the Big 4 professional services firms to establish a dedicated global cleantech practice.

The company also said it has launched a successful global cleantech center of excellence and has established cleantech leaders and teams in more than 40 countries around the world.

This article originally appeared at BusinessGreen.com and is reprinted with permission.