Green economy: a UK success story
Recession resilience How does the green economy compare? Indexed growth rate since the financial crisis1 40%
Indexed to 2007
30% 20%
Green economy turnover
10% 0 -10%
GDP 2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Projected growth
Size of UK economy 2011 1
Green economy £122bn
General economy £1,315bn
“ Over a third of the UK’s economic growth in 2011-12 is likely to have come from green business” CBI, 20122
Low carbon and environmental jobs compared to other sectors 2010-113
Low carbon and environmental 939,600
Financial services 1,061,900
Motor trade manufacture and retail 518,400 Telecoms 212,900
Market certainty Clear CO2 reduction objectives...4
ENGLAND 202,451 KILOTONNES CO2
UK 261,100 KILOTONNES CO2 SCOTLAND 29,075 Kt CO2
WALES 22,229 Kt CO2
N IRELAND 7,345 Kt CO2
Our calculation of what England’s share of the UK’s CO2 reduction target should be, assuming other nations reach theirs
2020 targets 33%
42%
34%
40%
30%
...leading to investment Spending on the top 20 infrastructure projects (by cost) started or confirmed 2012-135 Low carbon projects £23 billion
£14.5bn private
High carbon projects £3.1 billion
£1.2bn private
£1.9bn public
£7bn
public/private
£1.4bn public
...low carbon outcomes6 Renewable electricity consumed per capita across the UK 2011-12
22%
6% 11%
5%
£85.38
£325.54
£147.35
£100.03
England
Scotland
Wales
N Ireland
Investment in renewables per capita April 2011 – March 2012
...and jobs3 Low carbon and environmental jobs across the UK 2010-11 England
Low carbon and environmental 788,700
Financial services 929,600
Motor trade manufacture and retail 440,200 Telecoms 184,500 N Ireland
Wales
Scotland
41,500
77,700
27,800
86,800 46,000 18,700
21,500 6,600
Green employment is spread evenly across the country and correlates exactly with the population of each nation, eg England has 84% of the population and 84% of the green jobs
31,700 17,700 10,700 3,100
Global leadership Where are the UK’s green export markets?7
Germ £29
USA £331m
The UK exported low carbon and environmental goods and services to 52 countries in 2010-11, totalling £11.8bn
Brazil £232m
“ In 2014-15, [green business] is expected to roughly halve the UK’s trade deficit” CBI, 20122
China £794m
many 91m
Japan £358m
India £412m
How do UK green exports compare with competitors?7 £140m
£232m
Brazil £412m
£229m £189m
£331m
India
USA
UK £170m £211m
£291m
Germany
£358m
Japan £794m
£464m Green imports 2010-11
Green exports 2010-11
The UK is the green financing capital of the world8 One third of all global asset finance investment in new energy deals between 2007 and 2012 received both legal and financial advice from the UK
China
A UK success story
Data sources
We are often told of the benefits that come from creating a greener economy and the advantage that will come from being a first mover. It is now clear that we don’t need to wait for these benefits. The UK has moved and we are seeing the advantage. Our low carbon and environmental sector has shown that it’s not just for the good times, but that it has continued to grow steadily even whilst broader economic activity slows. This is the outcome of setting ambitious environmental targets and creating long term market incentives for green goods and services. It has given the private sector confidence to invest billions of pounds in these markets. In contrast, the UK’s high carbon infrastructure projects now have much lower leverage on private capital and are being propped up by greater proportions of public spending. The return on our investment in greening the economy is being felt across the country, with nearly a million people now employed in providing low carbon and environmental goods and services, outstripping employment in other sectors such as telecoms. Quietly and without fanfare, green business has become a UK success story, at home and abroad. We now export more green products and services to our competitors than we import from them, and we have become the green financing capital of the world. This success should be celebrated. With greater public recognition and stronger confidence green businesses can help secure a faster and more resilient economic recovery.
1
epartment for Business, Innovation & D Skills (BIS), 2012, Low carbon environmental goods and services: report for 2010-11; Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2012, Quarterly national accounts Q4 2011; Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), 2012, Economic and fiscal outlook 2 CBI, 2012, The colour of growth: maximising the potential of green business 3 Green jobs: BIS, 2012, Low carbon environmental goods and services: report for 2010-11; other jobs: ONS, 2011, Business register employment survey 2010 4 Emissions levels: AEA, 2011, Greenhouse gas inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990 – 2009; emissions targets: HM Government, 2008, Climate Change Act; Scottish Government, 2009, Climate Change (Scotland) Act; Welsh Assembly Government, 2010, Climate change strategy for Wales; Northern Ireland Executive, 2012, Programme for government 2011-15 5 HM Treasury, 2011, Infrastructure investment pipeline data 6 Renewables consumption: Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC), 2011, Electricity generation and supply figures for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, 2007 to 2010; investment: DECC, 2012, Renewables investment and jobs; ONS, 2011, Population estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, mid-2010 7 BIS, 2012, Low carbon environmental goods and services: report for 2010-11 8 Data courtesy of Bloomberg New Energy Finance 9 BIS, 2012, Low carbon environmental goods and services: report for 2010-11; UN, 2011, World population prospects: the 2010 revision More detailed references are available at www.green-alliance.org.uk/UKsuccess
Green Alliance 36 Buckingham Palace Road London, SW1W 0RE 020 7233 7433 ga@green-alliance.org.uk www.green-alliance.org.uk blog: greenallianceblog.org.uk twitter: @GreenAllianceUK The Green Alliance Trust is a registered charity 1045395 and company limited by guarantee (England & Wales) 3037633, registered at the above address
Cover image The UK has higher per capita green turnover than Germany, Brazil and China.9 Acknowledgements We are grateful to Alex Belsham-Harris, Green Alliance intern, Paul Benjamin at Bloomberg New Energy Finance and Ricardo Bowman at the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills for their help in producing this publication. With thanks to the following organisations for supporting this project:
Š Green Alliance, August 2012 Designed by Howdy Printed by Park Lane Press