CBI Says Uk Green Economy Value Reaches £105bn a Year
Uk green economy value reached £105bn a year, CBI Economics found, with the net zero economy supporting 1.1 million jobs across supply chains and related businesses. That means the sector is no longer niche: it already employs a workforce larger than many traditional industries and is generating measurable output for the wider economy.
£105bn in gross value added came from activity spanning energy, manufacturing, services and supply chains, while each worker generated nearly £120,000 a year for the wider economy. Louise Hellem, the CBI’s chief economist, said: “Clean power and decarbonisation are already a significant and growing part of the UK’s industrial base.”
Louise Hellem on £43,000 wages
£43,000 a year is the average wage in the net zero economy, about 11% higher than the national average of £39,000. The report’s direct employment figure was 308,000 people in roles such as solar panel installation, home insulation, wind turbine manufacturing and electric vehicles, showing where the jobs are concentrated rather than just how many there are.
£455bn of potential investment in energy infrastructure is in the pipeline, giving the report its sharpest forward-looking signal. If that spending moves into projects, the employment base described in the analysis could widen further, especially because about 22,000 small businesses around the UK are already engaged in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and boosting renewable energy.
CBI Economics and the net zero base
1.1 million jobs is the figure that turns this from an industrial-policy argument into a balance-sheet one. Louise Hellem said: “At a time when the UK must strengthen energy security and drive growth, the net zero economy is becoming central to the country’s future competitiveness.”
2050 remains the government’s target for net zero, with decarbonising the electricity system by 2030 set as the nearer milestone. Louise Hellem also said: “The UK cannot afford to step back from an industry already contributing £100bn to the economy and with huge future growth potential.”
Sandra Bell and the political fight
More than £100bn a year is now the threshold the report says the net zero economy has crossed, and that scale is what gives the debate around climate policy its commercial edge. Sandra Bell, a climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “The naysayers calling to dismantle climate action clearly don’t want what’s best for Britain or the millions of people struggling with the cost of living, otherwise they’d be pushing to reap these huge rewards.”
She added: “Instead, they’d prefer to keep us on the back foot in the global race to building a thriving green economy and locked into dying industries.” For businesses already inside the sector, the immediate issue is whether the £455bn pipeline is converted into work quickly enough to reinforce the jobs, wages and output the report says already exist.
