Report assessing size and performance of the UK’s low carbon economy published

Tue 24 March 2015 View all news

The latest assessment of the size and performance of the low carbon economy in the UK has been released by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).  The report estimates the size and performance to be £122bn in 2013, accounting for 1.5% of all UK jobs.

The report assesses 24 sectors under six broad headings within the UK economy between 2010 and 2013. The low carbon categories are electricity, heat, energy from waste and biomass, energy efficiency products, advisory and financial services and another category which includes low emission vehicles.

The performance of these sectors meant 11,550 companies were directly employing 269,800 and a further 190,800 employed indirectly within the supply chain. The annual turnover grew 25% with gross value added increasing 28% over the same time period.

Micheal Rea, chief operating officer of The Carbon Trust, said: “The low carbon economy is experiencing strong year on year growth from both an employment and economic perspective and gives a clear signal that the UK is reaping significant rewards from our successful development and support of low carbon technologies. However, we must not take our foot off the pedal as there is a huge untapped potential across a range of technologies from CSS to low carbon heat.”

Comparatively, the £122bn low carbon economy is worth more than double the UK’s automotive manufacturing industry, five times larger than the aerospace industry and on par with the food and drinks industry. 

Click Green reports the main highlights of the report as: 

  • Businesses operating in the low carbon economy tend to participate in more than one low carbon sector. On average, each business operates in about two sectors out of the 24 within the low carbon economy
  • The low carbon economy has shown significant, year on year, growth over the period 2010 to 2013: employment 3.8%, turnover 7.6% and GVA 8.7%.
  • Waste processing, energy from waste and biomass is the largest of the sector groupings across all measures. It is represented by 4,230 firms (37%) and with its supply chain, accounts for 146,900 employees (32%). It generates turnover to the value of £54.6bn (45%) and GVA of £21.9bn (49%).

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