30 July 2012

Complex policies hinder green bids says EEF

Complex, costly and incoherent climate and environment policies are hindering the ambitions of Britain's manufacturers and "doing little but adding to costs and burdens", according to the manufacturers' organisation EEF.

In publishing its 2012 Climate & Environment survey, 'Managing Green and Growth' EEF has called for an urgent full scale review of the government's climate and environment policies and has proposed a new green and growth 'stress test' requiring climate and environment legislation to demonstrate a positive contribution to the government's green and growth ambitions before it goes ahead.

EEF Chief Executive, Terry Scuoler, said: "Britain faces major challenge to de-carbonise our economy and strengthen economic growth. Despite some progress, the simple truth is the government's own policies are failing to match industry's own ambitions with a confused and cluttered landscape adding to the cost burdens rather than driving investment.

"We need a simpler and more coherent approach to climate change with a full review of the current set of tax and regulation measures. This must be accompanied by a new green and growth 'stress test' that all new legislation must pass before it goes ahead.

"Government must now learn from manufacturers' own efforts and develop policies which work with the grain of industry, rather than against it. Such an approach will help us meet our ambitious green targets, enable manufacturers to grow their businesses and help rebalance the economy."

Author
Ken Hurst

Supporting Information

Companies
EEF (Engineering Employers Federation)

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