In the 21st century one of the greatest challenges we face is tackling that of climate change and global warming. It is clear that there is a link between our everyday activities and the increase in pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore the issue of climate change is one which we have to tackle thanks to protocols and policies such as the KYOTO agreement and the UK Climate Change Bill. So ‘going green’ could be used as a stimulus to help the UK and potentially the world to pull itself out of the recession we are falling into.

Job Creation?

The electricity sector currently generates a huge amount of emissions with about 75% of UK power stations being coal or gas fired. In fact electricity generation accounts for over a third of the UK’s total carbon emissions. Therefore, if the UK were to migrate to using more alternative electricity generation methods such as wind, solar and hydro, emissions would fall dramatically. This transition could also produce a huge opportunity for job creation in the Low-carbon sector.

The idea to use the low carbon sector for job creation has been backed by many, with ex-government economic adviser Lord Stern publicly recognising this as a great opportunity to rebuild the economy but in a new ‘green’ format. And he noted that we did decide to ‘Go Green’ to rebuild our economy, the UK is in the prime geographical position to harness as much as possible from renewable resources such as wind, hydro and solar.

Innovators Here and Abroad

Germany decided to make the move into a greener environment in 1999 and renewable energy there has grown exponentially in the last decade. They now have 10 times as much wind power as Britain, with much less wind, and more than 200 times as much installed solar power. It is also much further ahead in hydrogen fuel technology, with numerous filling stations and 9 hydrogen buses already operating. Transportation is also a major contributor to the problems we have with emissions, so companies such as Modec who produce Zero-Emission commercial vehicles are in a prime position having already harnessed the technology available to meet future demands. Modec already have a customer base which includes brands such as M&S, Tesco, FedEx and UPS.