The UK green sector grew by 4.7 per cent in 2010-11, latest figures show.
Sales of
environmental and
low carbon goods and services reached £122.2 billion, up 4.7 per cent on 2009-10, according to data compiled by analyst
KMatrix and published in a new report, '
Sustainable Business 2011’, yesterday. Underlying growth was slower, due to inflation, but annual
sales are still expected to accelerate over the next five years, according to KMatrix.
Renewable energy and low carbon goods and services saw the fastest growth, at just over one per cent and around two and half per cent respectively. Environmental activities, the smallest of the three sectors, accounted for the rest of the growth.
Growth in these sectors is being driven by the UK’s transition to a green economy, the report published by ENDS and Forum for the Future, which assesses UK businesses’ sustainability performance, said.
The report tracked UK business progress across 16 indicators covering environmental, social and economic sustainability, and found opportunities for low carbon and environmental goods and services are emerging across many existing economic sectors including
waste, transport, construction and energy. These include the Green Deal, a major Government policy to insulate Britain’s homes kick-starting next year, and a £200 billion investment to transform the UK’s ageing electricity infrastructure into a low carbon energy supply system by 2020.
"Low carbon and environmental goods and services are providing opportunities for thousands of firms and helping Britain go green," the report said.
Despite this bright spot, the research found UK firms have slipped back in a number of areas crucial in the fight against climate change, including industrial carbon emissions,
energy efficiency, decarbonising electricity generation, and greenhouse gas emissions from freight transport. It concluded UK firms were a long way off meeting Government targets for an 80 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
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