Jobs: Green businesses employ 940,000 people and it could be more

The CBI has called for the government to help the sector add £20bn extra to the economy and knock £0.8bn off the trade gap.

John Cridland, the CBI’s director-general, launched a new report called The Colour of Growth: maximising the potential of green business in the City of London.

He said: “With something like a third of all our growth accounted for by green business last year, the UK could be a global front-runner in the shift to low-carbon. In the search for growth, we’re digging for goldmines – and one of them is green.

“Get our energy and climate change policies right, and we can add £20bn extra to our economy and knock £0.8bn off the trade gap, all within the lifetime of this Parliament.”

The CBI believes the UK has the ability to become a global front-runner in low carbon products and services, But the CBI warns that the government needs to take the right action to grasp this potential and avoid damaging the competitiveness of key industries.

Green goods and services are also a strong contributor to UK trade, and the biggest links are to fast-growing economies like China, which buys 7 per cent of UK green exports. By the end of this Parliament the contribution from green business could potentially cut the UK’s trade deficit by half, the CBI believes.