Green economy

Why is this important?

The green economy is economic growth that is low carbon, resource efficient, prevents the loss of

biodiversity and ecosystem services and is socially inclusive.

Bradford Council is committed to delivering sustainable development, that is clean and environmentally regenerative, will bring growth to the local economy, and is socially inclusive for everyone in the district.

What is our ambition?

Our ambition is to ensure Bradford District is a UK leader on the green economy.

Where are we now?

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) divides the Low Carbon Environmental Goods and Services Sector (LCEGS) into three Level 1 sub-sectors - Environmental, Renewable Energy and Low Carbon. These are in turn divided into 24 Level 2 sub-sectors which in turn identifies over 2,800 product and service activities including non-core that are derived from sector supply chain activities and value chain activities (R&D, Supply & Training).

We are currently assessing the region’s strengths in  the Green Economy and current and future markets to provide the evidence-based market intelligence data  for the LCEGS sector, and nature of the LCEGS sector locally in the Bradford region and some analysis of the split between the core and non-core activities within the sector and sub-sectors.

A more detailed assessment of our strengths in these areas will provide sector insight and intelligence on the current value of the sector and its potential opportunities within the region.

It will show market characteristics such as sector strengths, sub-sector resilience (the ability of a company to achieve longevity, but also the length of contracts and other factors that provide stability), market opportunities that are being created by regulation, policy and customer demand for businesses operating in the Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services sector and how it compares with the UK average. This will guide the strategy and where the Council and its partners will want to focus its efforts, priorities.

What are we going to do?

• Complete Green Economy audit as part of our Clean Growth Strategy.
• Continue to develop our Clean Growth Strategy and plan which will establish Bradford as a leader in the Green Economy.
• Development of the supply chain for hydrogen LGVs - Position the district’s automotive businesses to win opportunities in the fuel cell electric vehicles supply-chain through having a UK ‘test-bed’ fleet of hydrogen light goods vehicles
• Construction of a circular economy demonstrator - encourage local businesses to invest in reprocessing of recycled or bi-product materials and positioning the district as an exemplar of the circular economy in the UK.
• Ensure that the economic value of the energy produced is retained in the local area of Bradford. The local energy strategy will assess how the region can capitalise on renewable opportunities, supporting the growth of businesses.

5 years on

What does ‘good’ look like?

A 3-year trend analysis shows an increasing market share year-on-year. Annual sales, the number of companies and number of jobs in the sector has increased year-on-year with strong sub-sector resilience (length of contract and other factors that provide stability) to make Bradford District a leading region in the Green Economy.