Over 50 business leaders attended the launch, during which the key recommendations in the report were set out to government.
Julian Huppert MP commented that “I am delighted to support this Manifesto which outlines the importance of the cleantech sector for the UK economy. Cambridge and the eastern region is clearly a leading centre in the UK and Europe for environmental goods and services and the high quality jobs in the sector can only underpin economic growth. Developments in the cleantech sector also have the twin benefit of helping to solve the global climate change issues which we all face”.
Hugh Parnell, Chairman of Cambridge Cleantech comments that “to ensure that we can fulfil our ambitions and make a greater contribution to the UK economy, Cambridge Cleantech members are calling on the government and businesses to undertake a range of initiatives including, ensuring greater stability in government policies, incorporating cleantech criteria into public sector infrastructure contracts and mandatory monitoring of cleantech related performance, such as for energy management in buildings.”
Professor Doug Crawford Brown of the University of Cambridge comments “in the UK, sales of cleantech goods and services are approximately £52bn per year, or 3% of total GDP, and more than 900,000 people are employed in the sector. Measured by expenditure on R&D and the number of people employed, the region around Cambridge is at the leading edge of this cleantech revolution with twice the per capita engagement in this high value sector than the national average”.
CEO of Cambridge Cleantech, Martin Garratt comments that “much of the cleantech sector can be affected by government regulatory change and in this election year, we wanted to remind politicians of how the cleantech sector can drive up productivity and help make the UK economy more internationally competitive. We had over 50 business leaders and politicians attend the launch and will be distributing the Manifesto to other politicians and senior civil servants.”
The key recommendations are:
- Better defined, more stable government policies that influence confidence in cleantech investment
- Support from the government and businesses that will help innovators and SMEs grow to the point where they can deliver their cleantech solutions at-scale
- Incorporation of cleantech credentials into the performance measures of procurement policies that will help drive demand for cleantech solutions
- Development of incentive programmes for including cleantech companies in infrastructure provision, both by government and utilities
- Mandatory monitoring and reporting of cleantech performance, such as energy consumption, in major building and infrastructure projects at both construction phase and thereafter
- Identification of the key areas of cleantech where the UK has a strategic global position, marketing of that position internationally and supplying market intelligence
- A significantly improved and reliable database of cleantech firms in the UK, including cleantech as a better defined category in, for example, revised SIC coding by BIS
In the UK, sales of cleantech goods and services are approximately £52bn per year, or 3% of total GDP, and more than 900,000 people are employed in the sector. Measured by expenditure on R&D and the number of people employed, the region around Cambridge is at the leading edge of this cleantech revolution with twice the per capita engagement in this high value sector than the national average.
The Manifesto is a combined piece of work between Cambridge Cleantech and the Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research at the University of Cambridge.
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