The head of the UK’s largest business group, the CBI, has said the UK economy will only be fixed if green business is brought into the mainstream.
John Cridland, director –general of the
CBI, warned an audience of City investors yesterday that growth in the economy risked being undermined if green jobs and businesses were seen as the preserve of a "few specialists".
"We mustn’t fall into the trap of seeing a green economy as if it’s something different to the economy as a whole. Talk about green jobs as if they’re any different to mainstream ones. Say we have green industries as if they’re in competition with traditional ones," he said.
"By compartmentalising
green business we diminish it. Because this is an issue that matters to us all, not just a few specialists. We see it as part of the puzzle for fixing the whole economy."
The global market for low carbon goods and services is currently worth over £3 trillion and is expected to growth to around £4 trillion by 2015. In the UK, that market is estimated to currently be worth around £110 billion.
Green businesses
Highlighting what growth that is green looks like, Cridland pointed to large companies such as insurance company Aviva, which has developed new green cover for businesses. But he also mentioned Adnams of Southwold, a medium-sized independent brewer in Norfolk that has put sustainability at the heart of its operations, launched the UK’s first zero carbon beer and is turning its
waste into green gas.
"It’s about brewers like Adnams, pumping their waste into the national gas grid through an anaerobic digestion plant," he said. "All business has a stake in this."
Cridland was speaking at a City of London event, hosted by Climate Change Capital, the environmental
investment manager and advisory group, where the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg unveiled more details about the Green Investment Bank (GIB).
Green Investment Bank
While welcoming the fact the GIB will have independence from the Treasury enshrined in law, Cridland called on Government to give the bank "teeth" to galvanise low carbon investment with a real timeline for delivery.
"I want it delivering growth – large-scale, mainstream economic growth. I want it delivering the low carbon infrastructure, leveraging the £450 billion we need by 2025, that’ll bring jobs and opportunities to the UK," he said. "Investors want certainty. The GIB must have teeth if it’s going to deliver our new infrastructure."
Yesterday,
Clegg confirmed the GIB would receive £3 billion of guaranteed funding from Government and would begin lending money from April 2012. The Government hopes to leverage £15 billion worth of private sector investment over this Parliament through the GIB. However, the bank will not have the power to borrow until 2015.
Last month the CBI published Risky Business, outlining the steps needed to secure low carbon investment.
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