Almost four in five SME manufacturers in the UK say they will be actively targeting business within low carbon markets within two to three years, according to a Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) survey.
Forty-three per cent already are, the survey found. Seventy per cent manufacture products that could currently be supplied to the low carbon and environmental goods and services (LCEGS) market – things like the nuclear, low carbon vehicle, low carbon building and renewable energy supply-chain – and a similar number could easily adapt their offerings to do so.
The LCEGS market, including the wider supply chain, increased to £3.2 trillion globally in 2008/09 and is projected to grow four per cent every year over the next five years. The UK alone has a market value of £112 billion.
Additionally, more than half (56 per cent) of the manufacturers surveyed are already investing in making their own products and processes low carbon and this will rise to over 90 per cent by the end of 2013.
“These are encouraging figures,” said Roger Parr, national network manager MAS. “They show that manufacturers see, and most importantly have started to direct their focus to, the opportunities that these markets create for UK businesses.”
MAS conducted its survey to support it’s recently strengthened its Low Carbon Opportunity Programme which sees local delivery but with national coordination, to ensure advisors are aware of the latest commercial opportunities and the route to market a manufacturer would be best to take. Working with the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, MAS has also developed comprehensive industry fact sheets and industry analysis illustrating the size and scope of opportunities in each market, as well as a range of online training tools.
