A new industrial activism was today placed at the heart of the British Government's emerging Low Carbon Industrial Strategy as new figures showed the UK green goods and services sector is already the 6th biggest in the world.

PM Gordon Brown, and Business and Energy Secretaries Peter Mandelson and Ed Miliband, were meeting business leaders at a Low Carbon Industrial Summit in London to map out the UK's industrial priorities for taking advantage of the new global low carbon economy - currently estimated to be worth £3 trillion globally and employing over 880,000 people in the UK.

A pamphlet published today, 'Low Carbon Industrial Strategy: a Vision', highlights a range of companies in the UK already taking advantage of low carbon opportunity and sets out the scope and ambition of the Government's plans. Businesses and others with an interest are asked for their input through a new interactive website to inform a final Strategy to be published before the summer.

Gordon Brown called for a “global green new deal” which he hopes will pave the way for a low carbon recovery. Speaking about the new Low Carbon strategy pamphlet published today the Prime Minister said:

“Today, we are publishing independent research which shows that in Britain, as a result of the frameworks we have put in place, we can expect 400,000 new environmental sector jobs over the next eight years - with a total of 1.3 million people employed in these sectors by 2017.”

Notes for Editors

The Government's Low Carbon Industrial Strategy will aim for step change in four key areas:

• Energy efficiency to save businesses, consumers and the public services money
• Putting in place the energy infrastructure for the UK's low carbon future - in renewables, nuclear, Carbon Capture and Storage and a 'smart' grid
• Making the UK a global leader in the development and production of low carbon vehicles 
• Ensuring our skills, infrastructure, procurement, research and development, demonstration and deployment policies make the UK the best place to locate and develop a low carbon business and make sure international business recognises that.

New independent research by Innovas is published today. 'Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services: an industry analysis' shows:

• The UK is already the 6th largest low carbon and environmental goods and services (LCEGS) economy.
• In 2007/8 it was worth £107 billion to the UK economy, and could grow by another £45billion over the next decade.
• There are already over 880,000 jobs in the Low Carbon Environmental Goods and Services sector when the supply chain is included. If employment grows at projected rates, an additional 400,000 jobs could be created in the next decade.
• Just under one third (31%) of overall activity is in manufacturing
  The global market for the low carbon and environmental goods and services sector is estimated to be worth £3 trillion.
  

New research 'Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services: an industry analysis' by Innovas is published http://www.berr.gov.uk/lowcarbon

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