The Environmental Industries Commission has lobbied the Government to use the Budget to rectify major market failures of unpriced environmental costs and benefits through measures including environmental tax increment financing, brownfield redevelopment and tax incentives for land remediation.
A report, Budgetary Kick-Start for a Green Economy, picks up on the Government's desire for growth and says chancellor George Osborne should put a fair price on environmental externalities and provide investment incentives to grow green businesses.
It says the global environmental market place is worth £3.2trn while the UK environmental industry is valued at £112bn and employs one million people.
"The continued success of the UK's environmental industry will be the engine of growth on which the future of the UK economy depends," said EIC executive chairman Adrian Wilkes.
"Land remediation of brownfield sites has an EU market potential worth £220bn."
The report sets out a series of recommendations for the chancellor including environmental tax incentive financing.
Such a new model could be used to finance low and zero carbon public buildings, low-carbon affordable homes, energy efficiency in buildings, redevelopment of brownfield land, waste infrastructure and sustainable urban drainage systems.
It also calls for support for land remediation and brownfield development. It points out the UK contaminated land sector is worth £1bn a year and employs almost 8,000 people and is expected to grow 3.5% annually up to 2015.
It recommends improving land remediation relief by:-
- allowing developers to claim in year of spend;
- extending the relief;
- changing the long-term derelict definition;
- allowing landfill tax exemptions for asbestos;
- allowing the transfer of landfill tax exemptions.
It says local authorities should be allowed to use tax increment financing to develop brownfield sites.
"It is important that the Government understands that environmental will be the backbone of any green economy," said Mr Wilkes.
