The West Midlands region is taking action on climate change today to develop a low carbon economy which will ensure we are prepared for the challenges of tomorrow.
That was the message delivered by Mick Laverty, chief executive of Advantage West Midlands, to an audience of more than 100 business leaders attending The Prince of Wales’s May Day Summit on Climate Change at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry today.
The summit reconvened the May Day Network, the UK’s largest group of businesses and organisations committed to taking collaborative action to tackle climate change. The initiative is managed by Business in the Community.
The regional event in Coventry – sponsored by Advantage West Midlands and National Grid with the support of Arena Coventry Limited - was one of 12 events across the country linked to a live broadcast from London by HRH The Prince of Wales and the Prime Minister Gordon Brown to celebrate business progress and to challenge companies to do more on climate change.
Among the companies attending the event at Ricoh Arena were Jaguar Land Rover, Coventry Building Society, Carillion, Royal Mail and Severn Trent Water.
Mr Laverty said that Advantage West Midlands had made three pledges at the 2007 May Day Summit and all had been achieved:
• It had produced the UK’s first low-carbon regional economic strategy - the West Midlands Economic Strategy
• It had produced a Sustainable Development Action Plan – a first by any regional development agency (RDA)
• It had lobbied Government for carbon reduction targets to be included in RDA corporate plans. That was achieved via the Energy White Paper 2007.
Mr Laverty said: “Many people at the Ricoh Arena today are already helping to make the low carbon economy a reality. But we’re not making a song and dance about it. We’re from the West Midlands. We just get on with the job.
“The region has a proud history of innovation, enterprise and industrial ingenuity. Now, the region that is the home of the Industrial Revolution has an opportunity to drive forward a new low carbon agenda.”
Mr Laverty said that NISP, the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme, was an example of the low carbon economy in action today.
NISP is a business scheme aimed at using waste resources of its member companies as input to other businesses. The AWM Group Ltd in the Black Country recovers large volumes of waste foundry sand in their day to day business. Around 5,200 tonnes per annum of that foundry sand is now diverted from landfill and used as a surface for horse racing tracks, generating nearly £47,000 of additional sales.
Mr Laverty also praised local Coventry-based van maker Modec, which has just celebrated a successful first year in business, making over 100 of its market-leading, zero emission electric commercial vehicles.
The West Midlands is also coming up with the solutions of tomorrow, said Mr Laverty. Birmingham Science City is one of six English science cities which will see the public, private and research sectors work in partnership to use science and technology to improve prosperity and quality of life in the city, the West Midlands and the UK.
And the National Energy Technology Institute, hosted by the Universities of Birmingham, Loughborough and Nottingham, will co-ordinate £1 billion of private and public sector investment into research and development in coming years.
Mr Laverty said: “The West Midlands region is taking action on climate change today to develop a low carbon economy which will ensure we are prepared for the challenges of tomorrow.
“The strategy is in place, funding to kick-start innovative low carbon projects is in place and we’re demonstrating what can be achieved.
“But Advantage West Midlands can only do so much. We hope we’ve done enough to convince the private sector that a low carbon approach is good for business.
“Now is the time for the new low carbon pioneers to emerge.”
The May Day Summit 2008 is the first time the Prime Minister and HRH Prince Charles shared a platform to celebrate progress companies have made since the last Summit and to challenge companies to do more on climate change and take action to reduce their carbon footprint.
Delegates at Coventry also heard from Joseph Kwasnik, head of climate change at National Grid, and via the live link from London Stephen Howard, chief executive of Business in the Community, and Dr Raj Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.