The group, which has members including M&S, Sky, IKEA, the Green Alliance and the Environmental Industries Commission, set out a series of policy demands in its report ‘A Healthy Environment, A Competitive Economy’.
Measures set out in the document include fiscal incentives that “build on the success of the UK’s landfill tax” such as a variable VAT rate that would favour ‘resource efficient goods and services over their counterparts’.
Aldersgate Group has also called for the establishment of a resource efficiency strategy and has urged the new government to put environmental and climate policy “at the heart” of its programme as the UK leaves the EU.
The report noted: “The UK will need to develop a clear resource efficiency strategy which is backed by all key departments across Whitehall to harness these benefits. For example, BEIS is a well-placed partner for Defra to drive forward this strategy and resource efficiency should be at the heart of the Industrial Strategy.”
Standards
Other policy proposals highlighted in the report include setting out standards that require products sold in the UK to be designed with resource efficient principles, to minimise waste and ensure consumers benefit from “better quality products that last.”
It is also suggested that the government facilitates better access to finance and technical advice for businesses, especially SMEs, through the National Productivity Investment Fund and the British Business Bank.
And, priorities should also include developing a public procurement policy that favours resource efficient goods and services.
In addition to the resource efficiency strategy, the report also calls for the government to publish a detailed Clean Growth Plan and for the development of a finance strategy to increase the level of private investment in green technologies.
Brexit
Nick Molho, executive director of the Aldersgate Group, said: “As the new government negotiates the UK’s departure from the EU, it should not neglect the importance of putting forward an ambitious low carbon and environmental policy.
“The UK has significant strengths across the low carbon economy, a market which is already worth over $5.5tn globally and is rapidly growing following the Paris Agreement on climate change. The next five years are a unique opportunity to consolidate the UK’s competitive advantages and put its businesses in the best possible position to tap into growing export opportunities.”
Other groups in the environmental sector have already outlined policy priorities for the new government – including the Environmental Services Association, which has called for action to address the “vacuum” on waste policy, which it claims has emerged in recent years (see letsrecycle.com story).
Register for free to comment