The government’s low-carbon-economy summit, held in March in London by Lord Mandelson, has shown how sustainable energy businesses will be at the forefront of helping lead the UK out of recession.
South west sustainable energy chief Merlin Hyman, believes that the region is ideally situated to take full advantage of this push from central government.
“The message from Whitehall is clear,” said Mr Hyman, “the UK will strive to be the best place in the world to build a low-carbon business. This is great news for the south west: not only do we have exceptional natural resources, but also we have enterprising, resilient sustainable-energy businesses that are continuing to grow and take on new staff.”
However, it was pointed out that the leaders of many countries – including President Obama in the USA – are putting huge investment into green jobs, making the sector highly competitive: “We now need the government to follow this positive rhetoric with the major investment in incentives, skills and business support that we need if the south west and the UK generally is going to seize this opportunity.”
Earlier in March, Regen SW took 16 small and medium-sized sustainable energy businesses from around the south west to Ecobuild, the UK’s biggest ‘green’ building show. Many of these businesses reported that they are currently recruiting extra staff and see no signs of a downturn in their growth.
“This is extremely promising,” added Mr Hyman, “and these businesses not alone in battling against current economic trends. Our most recent research showed that there are over 7,000 workers in the south west sustainable energy sector, and over 60 per cent of these say they will recruit or train new managers or staff, expand existing UK markets, or develop new UK markets over the next few years.”
