Green sector now a major player in Welsh economy

Dear XXX

A new report has revealed that the Green Economy is now a major factor in delivering jobs and investment into Wales and can hold the key to economic recovery.

The report, UK Success Story, ( which is based on UK Government and ONS statistics) by environmental think tank Green Alliance, shows that the UK’s green economy has shown true recession resilience, growing healthily since the banking crisis. It predicts that the general economy will only return to 2007 levels by 2014 at the earliest, but the green economy will grow by 40% in that same period.

This report also shows that the majority of the large scale investment is from private sources, unlike investment in high carbon infrastructure which is more reliant on public funding.

In Wales, the report reveals the astonishing success of the green sector in delivering jobs and investment:

· There are now more low carbon and environmental jobs (41,506) in Wales than in motor trades (21,500), financial services (27,800) and telecommunications (6,600)

· Renewable energy is becoming an economic powerhouse in Wales. In the 2011-12 financial year alone Wales saw £443m of investment and 1299 jobs created in the sector, as renewable energy capacity in Wales grew by over a third between 2007 and 2010

Within the Green Economy in Wales, the three sectors with the highest sales in 2010-11 were building technologies (£817m), water supply and waste water treatment (£628m) and geothermal (637m)

WWF Cymru believes it is important for Welsh government to ensure its legislative programme, provides the confidence that the private sector requires for this long term investment in Wales. We believe it is important that the Sustainable Development, Planning and Environment bills, work with the right economic development policies to make this happen.

Now is the time to ensure cross party support for sustainable development is heard loud and clear by these potential investors.

WWF Cymru will not be contributing to the Committee’s inquiry into the Government’s budget. However, we urge you, in the light of this report, to consider the importance of support for this sector, particularly in regard to renewable energy, and energy and resource efficiency improvements.

You can download the Green Alliance infographic here and the data behind it here.

Yours sincerely

Anne Meikle, Head of WWF Cymru