Low Carbon Industrial Strategy

The government has today launched its Low Carbon Industrial Strategy, with a draft report setting out the UK's industrial priorities in the emerging cleantech economy.

The report highlights four key areas:
* Energy efficiency to save businesses, consumers and the public services money
* Putting in place the energy infrastructure for the UK’s low carbon future – in renewables, nuclear, Carbon Capture and Storage and a ‘smart’ grid
* Making the UK a global leader in the development and production of low carbon vehicles
* Ensuring our skills, infrastructure, procurement, research and development, demonstration and deployment policies make the UK the best place to locate and develop a low carbon business and make sure international business recognises that.

It's all well-intentioned but wafty at the moment, but BERR is asking for input from businesses and other interested parties before a final strategy document is published in the summer. Comments can be submitted via the website linked above for the next month. The discussion document's also available as a 1.4MB pdf.

BERR has also provided supporting market intelligence complied by Innovas, setting out the scope of the Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services (LCEGS) sector.
The value of the UK LCEGS sector was £106.5 billion in 2007/8. In terms of size, this puts the low carbon and environmental economy somewhere between the UK’s healthcare and construction sectors.
The UK is the world’s sixth largest low carbon and environmental economy, with 3.5% of global market share.
For more, see the full report (8.1MB pdf) or the executive summary (340KB pdf).