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UK can unlock £57bn economic boost by 2030 from green transition, CBI claims

BT will this month launch its first electric vehicle (EV) charging unit built from a street cabinet traditionally used for broadband and phone cabling storage, in bid to resolve the UK's inadequate chargepoint infrastructure.
BT will this month launch its first electric vehicle (EV) charging unit built from a street cabinet traditionally used for broadband and phone cabling storage, in bid to resolve the UK's inadequate chargepoint infrastructure.

Britain could unlock as much as £57bn of economic growth by turbo charging the journey to decarbonising production, a new report out today has claimed.

Calculations by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), who until recently was embroiled in a fight for its survival amid a string of sexual misconduct claims, found the UK is primed to benefit from the global race to Net Zero.

The business lobby group said the UK needs to create an industrial strategy akin to the US’s inflation reduction act and Europe’s green support scheme to avoid losing out on tens of billions of pounds of growth.

“Other nations have recognised the prizes on offer and are rapidly ramping up their own plans and spending to attract the green industries of the future,” Rain Newton-Smith, director general of the CBI, said.

“Businesses believe that the US’ Inflation Reduction Act, the EU’s Net Zero Industry Act, and other nations’ ambitious incentive packages developed in their wake, have changed the game,” she added.

Among the lobby group’s recommendations was forcing the Treasury and Office for Budget Responsibility to estimate the impact on the climate from government tax and spending decisions.

Mandating government departments to test policies against the UK’s climate commitments could also curb emissions, the CBI said. The economy legally must reach net zero emissions by 2050.

A root and branch examination of the tax system to identify areas that could be tweaked to stimulate high-potential green industries, like electric vehicle manufacturing, would accelerate growth.

Done right, there is a range of £37-£57bn of additional economic output – or 1.6 per cent-2.4 per cent of further growth – available for the UK from the transition to Net Zero, the CBI claimed.

Britain’s economic growth has slowed sharply since the 2008 financial crisis, mainly caused by a lack of business investment and slumping productivity. 

International Monetary Fund officials think the economy will expand one per cent next year and then at an average of two per cent in 2025 and 2026.