New partnership launched to support green businesses and drive clean economic growth

Lancaster University has teamed up with the Environmental Industries Commission (EIC) to support innovation and grow business which reduces carbon emissions and delivers clean growth.

The partnership between the two organisations will support businesses which are working on ideas, developments and innovations which could cut energy use and waste. 

The recent IPCC special report on global warming of 1.5O C highlights the urgent need to develop new technologies and approaches that will help limit temperature rises to 1.5 degrees. According to EIC, “the global move to cleaner economic growth, through low carbon technologies and the more efficient use of resources, is also one of the greatest industrial opportunities of our time”.  As well as being central to the IPCC report, clean growth is also at the heart of both the UK Clean Growth Strategy, and the industrial strategy.

The Lancaster University-based Centre for Global Eco innovation and the Environmental Industries Commission are launching a partnership to maximise these opportunities for business. Dr Andy Pickard said Lancaster University had been working for many years to enable innovation which is better for both the environment and for the economy. 

“We have a strong track record of working with businesses on innovations from new energy technologies to improving food security,” said Pickard. “This could mean finding new ways of using existing resources more efficiently or reducing waste and carbon emissions. This partnership also enables us to work closely with business to inform government policy.  It will help develop new relationships with industry and commerce to address global challenges, ultimately benefiting both the environment and the economy. The two will have to go hand-in-hand is we are find ways to keep temperature increases below 1.5 degrees,” Pickard said. 

EIC director Matthew Farrow said: “The UK has some world-class strengths in environmental technology and services and we need to build on these to deliver the clean growth and exports we all want to see post-Brexit.  Innovation is central to doing this - how can we solve environmental challenges such as air pollution or plastic waste faster and more efficiently?  To succeed we need business, policymakers and universities working together and by partnering with Lancaster University with its eco-innovation strengths we believe we can help make this happen.”

Claire Perry, minister for energy and clean growth, said: “The UK has led the world in cutting emissions whilst growing our economy, with clean growth driving incredible innovation and creating hundreds of thousands of high quality jobs. Ten years on from the Climate Change Act, the first ever Green GB week is a time to build on our successes and explain the huge opportunities for business and young people of a cleaner economy. I’m delighted to see how many more businesses and organisations such as Lancaster University are seizing this multi-billion-pound opportunity to energize their communities to tackle the very serious threat of climate change.”

The Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC) represents one of the world’s largest centres for environmental research offering balanced perspectives on complex societal challenges. 

LEC hosts the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation, an award-winning centre which delivers high quality business-led research, through enabling enterprises to access the expertise, resources and global contacts of Lancaster University and its national and international partners. 

The Centre is “solution focused” rather than “technology driven” enabling it to offer a range of multidisciplinary solutions, each based upon collaboration between the universities, their researchers, and the business community.

The university and EIC are committed to working together to maximise low carbon innovation opportunities for business. Opportunities over the next 24 months include joint workshops, case studies and position papers.