UK losing £4.3bn in green growth to European rivals, CBI warns

24th January 2023


The UK has lost significant market share in green technology to European competitors over the last two years, which will be worth £4.3bn by 2030.

That is according to the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) director general, Tony Danker, who warned this week that the UK is “falling behind rapidly” on green growth, and that other countries are “outspending and outsmarting us”.

In a speech at University College London, he highlighted how the UK is set to miss out on around £3bn in electric vehicle (EV) assembly and battery production by 2030, as well as £1.3bn in hydrogen electrolysers.

“Our international competitors in Europe, Asia and the US are going hell for leather on green growth and getting firms investing,” he continued. “We are behind them now and seem to be hoping for the best.

“We’re behind the Germans on heat pumps, insulation and building retrofits, the French on EV charging infrastructure, and the US on operational carbon capture and storage projects – despite the UK’s North Sea advantage.”

Danker urged the UK government to apply market-making mechanisms such as the Contracts for Difference to hydrogen, carbon capture and sustainable aviation fuels, and to use regulation to stimulate domestic demand for green technologies, as has been done with EVs.

In the wide-ranging speech, he also highlighted how the UK is set to fall from 5th to 30th place in the OECD table on tax competitiveness in April if a super-deduction for companies that invest in Britain is not replaced, and called for a bolder approach to tackling labour and skills shortages.

“We believe the UK could lead the world on green growth as we did in setting net-zero targets, but we’re on the verge of being relegated from the Champions League by the Americans and the Europeans,” he continued.

“Not only are they spending money, they’re abandoning regulatory barriers including state aid to win the prize! That’s a lesson for us on what it means to go big.”

This comes after report from Arup and Oxford Economic earlier this month suggested that new green industries could be worth more than £8.2trn to the global economy by 2050, which would be equivalent to over 5% of the world’s GDP that year.

It identifies the direct contribution to GDP of electric vehicles manufacturing, renewable power generation, clean energy equipment manufacturing, renewable fuels and green finance, and also highlights substantial productivity benefits from the green transition.

Commenting on the findings, IEMA’s Deputy CEO, Martin Baxter, said: “This report demonstrates the huge financial benefit that green industries can offer the global economy, and underlines the crucial need for governments and organisations to invest in green skills and training.

“Every job must be greener if we are to tackle the climate and environmental emergency. Our recently launched Green Careers Hub will help anyone – from any sector or background – understand how they can play a role in the wider green economy.”

Image credit: Unsplash

Subscribe

Subscribe to IEMA's newsletters to receive timely articles, expert opinions, event announcements, and much more, directly in your inbox.


Transform articles

The time is now

Dr Julie Riggs issues a call to arms to tackle a modern-day human tragedy

15th March 2024

Read more

The UK government’s carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) strategy is based on optimistic techno-economic assumptions that are now outdated, Carbon Tracker has warned.

13th March 2024

Read more

Multinational corporations are undermining their net-zero commitments with excessive air travel and no plans to reduce ‘the low hanging fruit’ of carbon footprints, a study by Transport & Environment has found.

13th March 2024

Read more

Large businesses across the world are avoiding climate action due to fear they will be called out for getting their work wrong, according to a new Carbon Trust report.

29th February 2024

Read more

A thought-provoking discussion on how storytelling can change the world took place in Central London last night, alongside an exclusive sneak preview of an upcoming IEMA film series.

29th February 2024

Read more

The UK’s net-zero economy grew 9% last year while delivering higher paid jobs than average and attracting billions of pounds in private investment, analysis by CBI Economics has uncovered.

28th February 2024

Read more

A consortium including IEMA and the Good Homes Alliance have drafted a letter to UK government ministers expressing disappointment with the proposed Future Homes Standard.

26th February 2024

Read more

IEMA and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) have today published up-to-date guidance to help companies and individuals understand climate-related financial information.

22nd February 2024

Read more

Media enquires

Looking for an expert to speak at an event or comment on an item in the news?

Find an expert

IEMA Cookie Notice

Clicking the ‘Accept all’ button means you are accepting analytics and third-party cookies. Our website uses necessary cookies which are required in order to make our website work. In addition to these, we use analytics and third-party cookies to optimise site functionality and give you the best possible experience. To control which cookies are set, click ‘Settings’. To learn more about cookies, how we use them on our website and how to change your cookie settings please view our cookie policy.

Manage cookie settings

Our use of cookies

You can learn more detailed information in our cookie policy.

Some cookies are essential, but non-essential cookies help us to improve the experience on our site by providing insights into how the site is being used. To maintain privacy management, this relies on cookie identifiers. Resetting or deleting your browser cookies will reset these preferences.

Essential cookies

These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website.

Analytics cookies

These cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to our website and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works.

Advertising cookies

These cookies allow us to tailor advertising to you based on your interests. If you do not accept these cookies, you will still see adverts, but these will be more generic.

Save and close