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Can the UK take a bigger slice of the ‘Low Carbon Economy’ pie?

It is well known that we are in a transitional period of moving away from a well established Fossil Fuel Economy towards a new Low Carbon Economy. The reduction in carbon emissions is possible through the development and uptake of renewable and sustainable technologies which offer new opportunities and markets to those organisations who can adapt quickly to these new challenges.

With unprecedented private and public sector funds being invested into environmental projects around the world, business leaders are asking which country is leading the green economy race and which markets offer the most attractive returns at least risk.

The UK’s economy has strong green foundations on which to build. Its low carbon environmental goods and services (LCEGS) market is the world’s 6th largest, worth £112 billion and employing over 900,000 people. Small businesses make up 91.5% of this sector.

Decarbonisation of energy generation, transport and buildings will all create more business opportunities. However, despite this growth in business opportunities, the UK has rapidly been losing ground internationally. This trend is directly related to aggressive regulatory and fiscal policy packages that countries are putting into place, such as China’s new five-year plan that seeks to underpin a “clean revolution” in its economic development.

The UK Government has recently woken up to the need for the UK to act now rather than fall further behind economically. New reforms to the energy market for power generation and incentive schemes for energy efficiency in homes and businesses have fuelled growth.

The UK Government has also provided substantial budget through the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (via Technology Strategy Board) to stimulate development and commercialisation of products and services entering the global Low Carbon Economy. There is a particular drive by the Government to capitalise on strengths of the UK’s research base and foster further collaboration between universities and companies.

In October 2010, a £200m+ programme was announced by Prime Minister David Cameron for the development of a number of Technology Innovation Centres. The new investment will further bridge the gap between universities and businesses, helping to commercialise the outputs of Britain’s world-class research base which is only second internationally to the USA.

The centres will also complement and link with the other Technology Strategy Board programmes such as Knowledge Transfer Partnerships which promote collaboration between universities and business, and to drive innovation and finding commercial opportunities for new technology and ideas. Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) is a UK-wide programme to encourage business/knowledge base collaborations. KTPs help businesses and organisations to improve their competitiveness and/or productivity through the use of the knowledge, technology and skills that reside within Universities.

Northumbria University has recently completed a Low Carbon Mapping (LCM) project which aims to connect together all ‘low carbon’ related research and development (R&D) within the Northumbria University The collaborative project within the University has provided an in-depth understanding of R&D activity which has then been translated into a searchable, interactive map, highlighting areas of ‘low carbon’ research activity, commercial links and funding sources, as well as new opportunities.

Four Low Carbon research areas have been highlighted during the mapping process – these are:

• Green Buildings
• Electric Vehicles and Sustainable Transport
• Renewable Energy and Smart Grids
• Climate Change

In parallel, areas of external investment and opportunity have been identified through working with external organisations and companies outside the University. The University has started a ‘Low Carbon Network’ and invites companies and individuals who are interested in this area to join the Low Carbon Linked In group.

A recent news item posted to the group is the Government’s recently released guide for small businesses called,“The Move to a Green Economy“. The guide includes links to some useful support organisations, such as the Carbon Trust, Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) and Technology Strategy Board (TSB), as well as ‘innovation funding’ links for small businesses:

• Enterprise Finance Guarantee
• Export Enterprise Finance Guarantee
• Enterprise Capital Funds
• Business Growth Funds

In a recent report, the Aldersgate Group sets out the case for a comprehensive green growth strategy. The central message is that green growth is not just about boosting traditional environmental technologies but the transformation of the whole economy and in particular,

using public sector procurement to drive innovation for sustainability while reducing future costs.

The Aldersgate Group concludes that “The future green economy offers tremendous opportunity for productive investment and sustainable growth – it should be the clear, central focus of government policy”.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graham Hopson .