EXCLUSIVE: Government to highlight how it hopes to promote the green economy through the first annual Green Great Britain Week
The government will today publish further details on its planned Green Great Britain Week in October, detailing how it hopes to work with businesses and civil society to highlight the opportunities presented by clean growth and raise awareness of how people can support climate action.
Earlier this month, Business Secretary Greg Clark confirmed the first annual Green Great Britain Week will take place from October 15th and will seek to highlight how a "combination of falling costs and global commitments are creating new opportunities for British businesses to lead the world in the development, manufacture and application of low carbon technologies".
"Our Clean Growth Grand Challenge is a commitment from government to work with industry to make this happen," he added. "There is a big business opportunity here. We will be working with business to highlight these opportunities during the first ever annual Green GB Week, starting on 15th October."
Today the government will release some further details on how it envisages the campaign promoting how "the global move to cleaner economic growth - through low carbon technologies and the more efficient use of resource - is one of the greatest industrial opportunities of our time".
An update on the BEIS website will confirm that while a detailed programme for the week is still under development, the plan is to bring together "a diverse range of businesses, civil society groups and government will join forces to tell the story of clean growth and how acting to tackle climate change is a shared endeavour, delivering a week of activity that involves all parts of the country".
The week is expected to focus on highlighting the 10th anniversary of the Climate Change Act. On October 16th 2008 then Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband announced the legislation would set a target to cut UK emissions 80 per cent by 2050 ahead of it securing Royal Assent on November 26th.
BEIS will announce today that the week will feature a series of events to showcase the leading role of the UK's academic community and businesses in new low carbon technologies, innovative financial products, and business models that will help us tackle climate change while generating economic growth.
"It will also provide a focal point to promote British clean businesses to international investors," BEIS added.
The week will also look to promote a number of trends and issues, including UK leadership on climate change, the latest climate science, the clean technologies of future, the financing the low carbon economy, clean growth as a business opportunity, and climate action in communities.
One of the week's high profile events showcasing the best of innovative UK green business will be the annual BusinessGreen Leaders Summit on Tuesday 16th October at The Crystal venue in London's Docklands.
BusinessGreen can today confirm the day-long Summit will feature speeches from Energy and Clean Growth Minister Claire Perry, CEO at ClientEarth James Thornton, Professor Corinne Le Quéré of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, and John Holland-Kaye, CEO at Heathrow, as well as contributions from senior executives at Burberry, Kingfisher, BT, and headline sponsor Centrica.
Tickets for the Summit are on sale now and attendance is free for BusinessGreen Leaders Subscribers.
Green Great Britain Week will form part of a busy autumn for the green economy and the government, which will also feature major green business summits in California and New York, the UK's first international ultra low emission vehicle summit, the 10th anniversary of the Climate Change Act, and the crucial UN climate summit in Poland.
