We’re proud to be featured as part of a new report by the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit and Confederation of British Industry (CBI) highlighting the benefits that businesses operating within the net zero economy are bringing to the UK.
Among the stand-out statistics, the report found that there are almost 20,000 businesses that are contributing £71 billion – or 3.7% - in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the UK economy at the same time as providing 840,000 jobs. The report further highlights the rewards of decarbonisation, suggesting that environmentally sustainable economic growth, for example the development and scaling of renewable energy, is also beneficial in distributing economic activity across the UK.
Highlights also included:
- From 16 sub-sectors, the renewable energy planning database has the largest composition with around 320,000 employees and 7,500 businesses. This forms almost 40% of businesses.
- The energy sector also had the highest contribution of GVA to the UK economy, accounting for 16% of the total £71 billion GVA contribution.
- In 2021, venture funding into the net zero economy reached £710 million. This was over 10 times higher than venture investment into the oil and gas sub-industry, which saw a total of £49 million in venture investment.
- The net zero economy is highly connected to the wider UK supply chain, leading to a multiplier effect across the economy as goods and services are purchased from other industries. This supply chain contribution represents £29.5 billion in GVA, contributing 1.5% to the UK economy.
We were particularly pleased to see that the West of England was identified as one of the top 20 net zero economic hotspots, which includes our home city of Bristol. Thrive was featured as one of the net zero economy businesses operating in a range of sectors and specialisms, from energy generation to education.
“The availability of this data is crucial in enabling businesses and for effective policymaking, to understand the size of the opportunity and engage in the transition to net zero. While it remains one of the most significant long-term challenges, businesses which invest and act early are best placed to seize the opportunities from the transition.” –Mohammad Jamei, Director, CBI Economics
“It’s great to be included as a case study in this report. This follows on from Chris Skidmore’s recent Mission Zero report, which confirmed that net zero provides a historic opportunity for economic growth. What we need now is greater policy support to ensure investment in local and regional net zero economies, such as the West of England, continues at the scale required for net zero.” – Matthew Clayton, Managing Director, Thrive Renewables
Our mission is to connect people with clean energy. We do that in a variety of ways, whether it be through the investors who support us or our work funding and building new clean energy projects. In particular, we help other businesses to achieve net zero through direct wire projects – i.e. an on-site wind turbine or rooftop solar array. By hosting a renewable project on their commercial premises, businesses are able to use the clean electricity generated to power their operations, reducing their energy bills and bolstering their green credentials.
As a business, we’re also committed to achieving net zero by 2030, which plays into Bristol’s wider sustainability goals. As the first local authority to declare a climate emergency in 2018, Bristol City Council has committed to becoming a carbon neutral city by 2030.
