Green GB Week: Landmark week of action to celebrate Clean Growth

Government announces a week of activity to celebrate Clean Growth.

Working in partnership with business and civil society, the government is introducing the first ever Green GB Week – an annual week designed to highlight the opportunities clean growth offers the UK and raise understanding of how business and the public can contribute to tackling climate change.

The UK has led the world to date in cutting emissions while creating wealth. Between 1990 and 2016, the UK reduced its emissions by over 40% while growing the economy by more than two-thirds – the best performance in the G7 on a per person basis.

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.

This is why we put clean growth at the heart of both our Clean Growth Strategy, and the Industrial Strategy through our new Clean Growth Grand Challenge. We want to maximise the economic and industrial advantages of both the global and our domestic shift to clean growth across the whole of the UK.

Launching on 15 October 2018, Green GB Week will showcase the benefits clean growth will bring to all parts of society – from new jobs to cleaner air. We want local communities to embrace this challenge and grow momentum from the ground up.

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 will highlight both the urgent need to tackle climate change and our rapid progress towards building a cleaner economy.

This year the week will focus on celebrating UK leadership on climate change, marking the 10-year anniversary of the Climate Change Act, while highlighting the business opportunity from clean growth and providing a platform for the latest research on the impacts of climate change.

There will be 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.

A detailed programme for the week is under development, and will include a focus on:

• UK leadership on climate change
• the latest climate science
• the clean technologies of future
• financing the low carbon economy
• clean growth as a business opportunity
• climate action in communities