The UK is in the early stages of a clean growth transition. However, many of the environmental and social goals the country is striving to achieve – reducing emissions, increasing resource efficiency and improving the quality of our environment – aren’t driven by market incentives alone. Government policy is needed to create and enable markets for businesses to innovate and deploy innovative products, services and business models.

The Bartlett has been one of the key contributors to the Green Innovation Policy Commission (GIPC), which brought together progressive businesses and leading academics to identify how policy can best support green innovation across the UK.

The GIPC came together in 2019 and 2020 to:   

  • Identify green innovation priorities across the economy, with a particular focus on hard-to-reach sectors, such as road freight, buildings, heavy industry and food.   
  • Inject new thinking on how policy can most effectively promote and support green innovation.  
  • Create a new public dialogue between policy makers, academics and business leaders on the challenges and opportunities around economic growth directed at green innovation.   

The Commission published its final report in 2020. The report highlights that green innovation is critical to futureproofing the economic recovery, and to meeting the country’s net zero and environmental goals.

Listen to the highlights of 'New solutions for a green recovery: Unlocking the UK’s innovation potential'

The research that fed into the GPIC report was led by Prof Paul Ekins and other academics from the UCL Institute of Sustainable Resources at The Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment. The work was supported by UCL Public Policy and the Green Alliance, with input from the Aldersgate Group and WWF.

Quote: The commission successfully engaged with charities and campaigners, while pulling their findings into a compelling set of recommendations that were both surprising and useful to policymakers.

Dr George Dibb, Head of the IPPR’s Centre for Economic Justice, highlighted the GIPC’s role in underlining the importance of universities engaging in policymaking, and acting as a trusted convener of expert knowledge with the business community, third sector and policy stakeholders:

“With a broad group of commissioners, the GIPC set out to understand what drove innovation in businesses, drawing on academic literature and the practical experience of the private sector. The commission successfully engaged with charities and campaigners, while pulling their findings into a compelling set of recommendations that were both surprising and useful to policymakers.

“The GIPC really demonstrates the value of academic policy engagement.” 

Further resources

Contacts 

Paul Ekins
Professor of Resources and Environment Policy, The Bartlett Institute of Sustainable Resources
Email: p.ekins@ucl.ac.uk  

Olivia Stevenson
Deputy Director, UCL Public Policy
Email: o.stevenson@ucl.ac.uk 

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