How’s it greening? A checkup on the UK low-carbon economy

A report released today offers the skinny on the UK’s low-carbon sector, with pretty impressive figures on growth, employment, exports, and investments.  According to the Green Alliance’s research, the green economy was worth 9.3% of the UK’s total economy in 2011.  £23 billion (about C$36 billion), mainly from the private sector, is being invested in low-carbon infrastructure projects in 2012-13, compared to just £3.1 billion (~C$4.9 billion) for high-carbon projects.   And green exports to the UK’s six largest trading partners outweighed imports from those countries by £1 billion (~C$1.6 billion).

Now that’s a story worth telling.

¹ Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS), 2012, Low carbon environmental goods and services: report for 2010-11; Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2012, Quarterly national accounts Q4 2011; Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), 2012, Economic and fiscal outlook