The West Midlands Local Industrial Strategy recognises the low carbon sector as one of the region’s key areas of strength that will enable growth and boost productivity in the coming years. To realise the sector’s potential, the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) has been tasked with designing and implementing a Low Carbon and Environmental Technologies Action Plan. The Action Plan, currently in its draft format, includes interventions that will enable low carbon businesses to grow, encourage more businesses to locate in the West Midlands, and develop a cluster of low carbon companies who can benefit from a shared access to talent, knowledge and infrastructure. To inform the development of the action plan an extensive stakeholder engagement exercise was undertaken last autumn to understand business’ perspectives on the challenges and opportunities that the sector faces – over 80 businesses were consulted. One of the key recommendations that came from businesses was to set-up a business-led Steering Group that will support the GBSLEP with the refining and implementation of actions. The Steering Group had its first session on the 21st April and was attended by leading individuals from across 17, large and small organisations in the low carbon space. The group will meet quarterly and next steps will include beginning to implement the actions and raise the voice and profile of low carbon businesses across the West Midlands. If you would like to find out more about the Steering Group or enquire about participating, please contact: Alex.taylor@ecuity.com
