EY: South East boasts cleantech investment
The South East has featured among the top five locations in the UK for attracting cleantech Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), according to new analysis by EY.
The UK was Europe’s second most popular location for FDI-backed clean technology projects in 2020, with the South East ranking fourth among UK regions with 10% of the UK’s ‘cleantech’ investment projects.
Overall, the UK attracted 59 cleantech projects in 2020 – 17.1% of all such European projects, and behind only Germany’s 67 projects (19.4% of the European cleantech market). Cleantech projects were deemed to be those which included investment in energy transition, biodiversity, sustainability or the pursuit of Net Zero targets.
Richard Baker, Managing Partner at EY in the Thames Valley and South, said:
“Clean technology and sustainability are important economic drivers in the Thames Valley and wider South East, and there’s a real opportunity here for the region to build on existing strengths in cutting edge technology and business practices to lead nationwide change. The business community has a crucial part to play in the region’s move to a more sustainable, cleaner economy, so it’s welcome news that the region has done well to attract investment in cleantech projects.
“The UK is also performing better on cleantech than perceptions might imply – our regular UK Attractiveness Survey has shown that while investor support for UK cleantech has grown significantly in recent years, Europe is still more likely to be perceived as a leader in this area. With scope to improve investor perceptions, the UK has a solid foundation from which to accelerate its cleantech performance. The Government has the opportunity to set out how
it will do this with its forthcoming Net Zero Review and Strategy."
Manufacturing is the largest generator of cleantech activity in Europe, representing 36% (124 projects) of the total market. The next most common activities were sales and marketing (59 projects, 17% of the market), and research and development (49 projects, 14% of the market). In the UK, manufacturing was also the dominant activity, with 27% of all cleantech FDI projects (16 projects).
