Proactive Investors - Britain’s government must take more steps if it wants to keep up with the growth of the green technology industry, a left-leaning think tank report has revealed.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said it was aware that the UK had deindustrialised quicker than other developed nations, but believes advancements are required to extend its control of the global green tech sector.
As the globe shifts to net zero, the reliance on green technologies such as electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines, will lead to a range of nations competing to dominate, the report said.
It comes as the Biden administration revealed it would be placing a 100% US import tariff on Chinese EVs.
The US government also upped import tariffs on other green technology components in a bid to protect the nation from a surge in Chinese dominance.
“That is going to flood the global market with supply that undercuts our ability to build productive capacity at home and leaves all of us across the world more vulnerable to economic coercion,” a senior White House official explained.
While the UK’s government has pledged to upgrade the industry and introduce new schemes, it is believed they don’t pack the same punch as the strategies of China, the EU or the US.
The IPPR believes despite Britain’s deindustrialisation it still has an advantage in the manufacturing of products such as heat pumps, wind turbines and green transport.
“There's a race towards net zero. The US, Europe and China are all fighting it out for this investment. Companies need to know the UK is a place to go. So one of the things that we need [from the government] is a real industrial strategy,” said George Dibb, IPPR’s associate director.