New reports highlight that low carbon focus is good for growth
Thu 20 November 2014
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Three recent reports from diverse authors - Imperial College, the Management Consultants Association and the UK Energy Research Centre - find that a focus on low carbon innovation and clean technology is good for growth and jobs.
The Management Consultants Association Think Tank assembled expert consultants working to help businesses reduce their carbon footprints. Their observations, which formed the basis of MCA's report, show that the idea of sustainable energy and resource usage has become uncoupled from its roots in good business values, such as the careful husbandry and management of supply.
A press release accompanying the report says: "The low carbon agenda should be recast as an opportunity for enterprises to become more efficient and profitable."
Meanwhile, the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) has analysed data from fifty studies published since 2000 on the relationship between green energy investment and job creation in the USA, Europe and China. It finds that investment in renewables and energy efficiency can create up to 10 times as many jobs per unit of electricity as investment in fossil fuels.
In separate findings, Imperial College researchers find that clean technologies could generate more growth in innovation and the economy than fossil fuel-based technologies.
They cite clean technologies such as 'smart devices' including iPhones, renewable energy such as wind power and green transportation including electric cars. Fossil fuel based technologies include combustion engines, which currently power anything from vehicles to electricity generation.
The Imperial researchers found that policies aimed at encouraging innovation in businesses by using clean technologies, while displacing polluting ones, has a positive impact on economic growth. This is because clean technologies lead to more knowledge “spillovers”, which is when knowledge and research generated by one firm also benefits other firms.
Dr Ralf Martin, the lead researcher from Imperial College Business School, said: “Our research paper shows that clean technologies are not only environmentally friendly but they have the potential to make businesses more innovative , which can lead to economic benefits, especially if support is targeted at radical clean technologies that avoid fossil fuels altogether.
"Clean technologies are a relatively untapped source of wealth for countries all over the world. They could have a transformative impact on the global economy in a similar way that Information and Communications technologies did.”
The findings of these reports resonate with those of the LowCVP's 'Investing in the Low Carbon Journey' which was published alongside the LowCVP Annual Conference in July.
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