L@B Brief - Dec 2021
16 December 2021
AT THE UK Export Finance (UKEF) forum at the QEII conference centre in London this month, Mike Freer MP, Minister for Exports and ‘Chief salesman for UK PLC’ highlighted ‘green growth’ as an opportunity for UK businesses. Clean growth is worth £170bn to the UK economy, he said, and green exporters get an extra five years to repay loans because: “We are taking climate change seriously”.
Louis Taylor, CEO of UKEF noted that every country which made a pledge at COP26 would be looking to new technologies to reach their targets and so 50% of all the UKEF development pipeline is in ‘green growth’ areas. “We will reassess our risk appetite to support nascent industries like green hydrogen because we want manufacturers to have no reason to be timid about these developments.” One of his colleagues described Taylor as having been: ‘Dipped in sustainability at COP26 and come out born again’.
It’s obvious it would be foolish to ignore the green bandwagon. Which is why GAMBICA’s March conference will feature a range of ideas to help you get on board without reducing your profits.
But while the opportunities of green growth got a big tick, last month’s new Export Strategy was described by one speaker as “66 pages thick but very thin.”
If you haven’t engaged with UKEF yet, a GAMBICA member speaking at the forum, Jeremy Simpson of Megger, said he had found working with them “A game changer, [UKEF is] far more flexible and easy to work with than their German counterparts. I can’t recommend them too highly”. So if you are planning to get into clean growth – it might well be more useful to contact UKEF.
So it sounds as if there are lots of opportunities opening up in 2022 – so it will be another exciting year. Before we get to that though, I hope that you and yours all keep well and that you have a relaxing and enjoyable break over the holidays.
Happy Christmas!
Jacqueline
To download a pdf of the December issue, click here
As it's Christmas there is no Standards bulletin this month - but look out for a bumper issue in January!
In this month's issue:
GAMBICA steps up lobbying activities... Achema postponed... Confidence of the food and drink industry wanes... Economic forecast downgraded but business investment still robust... New regime for imports starts in January... Ransomware attacks predicted to increase in 2022... UK life sciences statistics – list available of biotech and health companies in the UK... Medical and smart grants become available... Biopharma industry announces efforts to tackle climate change... Sanctions introduced against individuals and companies suspected of involvement in disappearances... High voltage electrical equipment exempted from PSS Regs... Upcoming GAMBICA webinars... Events... Package of measures announced to update export control regime... Latin America and the Caribbean market report... Crawford Scientific, renowned for its chromatography training, joins GAMBICA... Dismissal for mistakenly breaking Covid self-isolation guidelines ‘unfair’... HSE calls for evidence on PFAS