Cameron hails clean energy on Indian trade mission

19/02/2013

Host of green companies join largest ever overseas business delegation with prime minister

The prime minister has again underlined his support for green technologies during a major trip to India where he is attempting to drum up business for the UK.

David Cameron today arrived in India with a group of more than 100 business leaders, including several green companies and climate change minister Greg Barker.

At his first stop, the Unilever office in Mumbai, Cameron touted the benefits of clean energy as a key to UK economic growth.

Asked during a question and answer session if he thought governments were doing enough to boost the green economy, Cameron said green technologies such as wind turbines should be promoted in the face of opposition.

"All over the world governments are not doing enough," he said. "We are not on track to deal with climate change and make sure our policies are sustainable."

He maintained he was proud to be the prime minister of a country that is taking steps to tackle climate change, highlighting the launch of the Green Investment Bank and investment in offshore wind farms.

"It can be done and the argument we have to have right across the world is to try and prove to businesses and our people that this is actually a growth agenda," he said. "It's not a miserable agenda of low growth and no growth."

"These new green technologies, whether it is waste recycling, wind power or nuclear power – because there are no carbon emissions – these are growth items and green tech jobs are growing faster in our economy than many other parts."

He concluded that unless larger economies pursue a green growth agenda, efforts to combat climate change will fail.

His comments echo those made in a speech at the start of this month, in which he warned the UK has no choice but to prioritise investment in renewables and energy efficiency if it wants to compete in the "global economic race".

Recent figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance show India now leads the world in clean tech investment growth, racking up $10.3bn in the sector in 2011, representing a growth rate of 52 per cent year-on-year.

Speaking this morning, Cameron called for the UK and India to form "one of the greatest partnerships of the 21st century".

"India's rise is going to be one of the great phenomena of this century and it is incredibly impressive to see... the enormous power of your economy that is going to be one of the top three economies by 2030," he said.

"Britain wants to be your partner of choice. We think there are huge ties... but we think we've only just started on the sort of partnership that we could build."

Cameron has been joined on the trip – which has been hailed as the biggest "business delegation to leave Britain's shores" – by representatives from several clean tech firms, including recycled material export company J & H Sales and smart grid developer Hildebrand Technology.

Xan Morgan, vice president of business development at Bluewater Bio, which has also joined the delegation, said the company was seeking partners in India to help roll out its waste water and greenhouse gas monitoring technology.

Bluewater Bio recently signed a deal with India's Tatva Global Environment to market and deploy its low-energy water filtration technology Filterclear. The first filter vessel ordered through this partnership has already been delivered to Nirlon Science and Knowledge Park's 'green campus' in Mumbai's western suburbs.

Other delegates with green interests include David Nish, chief executive of Standard Life, who is also a non-executive director of the UK's Green Investment Bank, and Paul Walsh, chief executive of Diageo, who is a non-executive director at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and whose company is ramping up its use of renewable energy technologies as it seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent between 2007 and 2015.

The full list of business delegates can be viewed here.

By Le My

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