Low-carbon manufacturing and goods are now the West Midlands’ fastest growing sector, latest research has shown, boosting the region’s ambition to lead a new, green industrial revolution. Figures show that the region’s low-carbon industries grew by more than 7% in 2020 despite a 9% downturn in the wider West Midlands economy as a result of the Covid pandemic. The sector now employs close to 100,000 people across the region, which also has a far greater concentration of workers in certain low-carbon industries than many other parts of the UK. Coventry and Warwickshire alone employs 28 times the UK average in electricity transmission jobs, the Black Country five times the average in securing recycled materials, and Birmingham and Solihull five times the average in building management systems and activities. Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “The West Midlands is already the manufacturing heartland of the UK and is world-leading in the automotive and energy storage industries. Now we’re ready to seize the initiative and become the home of the Green Industrial Revolution”
