LOW-carbon manufacturing and goods are now the West Midlands’ fastest growing sector, latest research has shown, boosting the region’s ambition to lead a new, green industrial revolution.
Figures show the region’s low-carbon industries grew by more than seven per cent in 2020 despite a nine per cent downturn in the wider West Midlands economy as a result of the Covid pandemic.
The sector now employs close to 100,000 people across the region, which also has a far greater concentration of workers in certain low-carbon industries than many other parts of the UK.
Coventry and Warwickshire alone employs 28 times the UK average in electricity transmission jobs, the Black Country five times the average in securing recycled materials, and Birmingham and Solihull five times the average in building management systems and activities.
This new research, commissioned by the West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC), found one of the reasons for the West Midlands’ success is because many of the region’s traditional sectors, such as manufacturing, automotive and energy supply, are looking to reduce carbon in response to the climate emergency.
