Friday 6 September 2013

Green businesses worth £25bn to London economy

London’s green economy is booming as the sector is worth around £25.4 billion to the capital’s economy, a new report revealed.

Figures from Mayor Boris Johnson’s Office also showed the Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services (LCGES) sector has grown from £20.9 billion in 2007/08 to £22.9 billion in 2009/10.

It also rose by more than 5% over each of the last two years, with the value of exports at £2.2 billion - up from £1.9 billion in 2009/10.

Growth is predicted to continue until the end of the decade by around 6% per year, which is expected to help support the Mayor’s goal of London becoming one of the most sustainable cities in the world by 2020. More than 9,200 green businesses are currently employing over 163,500 people in London.

The largest sub-sectors in the LCGES industry by sales are in carbon finance (£6.52bn), geothermal (£2.74bn), wind (£2.53bn) and building technologies (£2.28bn) – which in total account for 56% of the capital’s sales.

Mr Johnson said: “This report proves that cities taking climate action can expect economic growth. London is becoming the ‘one-stop shop’ for low carbon and environmental services – providing the goods, skills and financing every city needs to make its transition to a low carbon, resource efficient economy.”

Earlier this year the Mayor also proposed plans to have the “world’s first” Ultra Low Emission Zone in London.