Companies who form part of the UK’s wider net zero ecosystem contribute £60bn a year to the economy and support 766,000 jobs – yet outdated official sector classifications risk hampering decarbonisation efforts by failing to provide the insight that’s needed.
We have partnered with CBI Economics to map the impact and activity of 16 key sectors which play a role within the whole UK net-zero economy. By developing new RTICs (Real-Time Industrial Classifications), a snapshot of 16,000 companies was identified within these 16 sectors, alongside unique scorecards which evaluate the transition of 374 local authority areas in eight metrics around energy, economy and emissions.
The Data City and CBI Economics believe this analysis can better inform UK climate action goals by offering an improved level of insight not given by the current Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system, which has not been updated since 2007.
The report contains key insights for the sector including:
- Huge national and export opportunity
- 16 Net Zero sectors mapped
- £1.1bn investment raised
- Local authority scorecard
- View on the ‘Just transition’
- Jobs outlook
The data shows that regions that seize the growth opportunities of the net zero transition are more likely to see a rise in prosperity. This is reflected through the report’s wage analysis which demonstrates a wage premium for these jobs compared to many other sectors. This has profound implications for the Levelling Up agenda, as the report finds that net zero economic activity is more regionally distributed compared to the historic concentrations around London seen in other sectors.
The report also shows that the amount of venture funding, in the part of the net zero ecosystem the analysis covers, has shown tremendous growth in recent years which stood at around £1.1bn. This highlights the investment opportunities available in net zero transition and complements the UK’s track record in seeing investment growth across many different sectors.
You can access the full details in the CBI & Data City co-authored report here.