Princely push to climate debate

Even after the Copenhagen meetings in December last year failed to deliver, the UK's special representative for international trade and investment, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, today continued the promote the paradigm that the developing world should partner with developed states in addressing climate change.

However, taking the argument forward, he called for greater collaboration between governments and the private sector to push for a global low-carbon economy that would be profitable for businesses.

“The global market for low carbon and environmental goods and services was worth 3 trillion pound in 2008. As international action on climate change gathers momentum, this could grow to an estimated 4.3 billion pounds by 2015,” he said at a seminar organised by CII and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI).

By providing the UK's blueprint for capitalising on the low-carbon business opportunity, which includes investment in education and research and development into newer technologies, Andrew tacitly hinted that countries like India should look at harnessing their academic research better.

“Many of our new generation of low-carbon companies have been born directly out of university research, operating at the forefront of nano-technology, bio-technology and computer science,” he said.

For instance, Oxford university is working with Delta Motorsports for developing a high-performance electric vehicle, while Bath Univerity is collaborating with industry on high-tech materials which absorb and treat carbon.

“In addition, the track record of Cambridge and Oxford universities and Imperial College London in commercialising their research and transferring it from the lab bench to the market place is among the best in the word,” he added.

As for domestic industry, Andrew said that UK firms had already been active in India and, in particular, pushed for greater cooperation in the energy sector. “I am aware that coal plays a key role in India's energy mix and is going to be the main source of energy for the foreseeable future. There is an increasing interest in cleaner coal technologies, another area where Indian and UK companies have been working together. The UK has expertise in almost all parts of the coal value chain,” he said.