Government backs Greater Manchester’s plans for carbon neutral living by 2038

GREATER Manchester’s ambitious and ground-breaking plans to become carbon neutral, creating the UK’s leading green and digital city-region, have been backed by Government in the city-region’s new Local Industrial Strategy. 

As part of the strategy, the UK’s first city-region Clean Growth Mission to achieve carbon neutral living in Greater Manchester has been launched.  The city-region’s bold 2038 target is 12 years ahead of the national ambition. 

The innovative new strategy for Greater Manchester, launched by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham with Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Deputy Mayor for the Economy Sir Richard Leese, gives further backing for Greater Manchester’s pioneering industrial and social vision. 

The Strategy sets out plans to consolidate the city-region’s leading position in the digital and creative sectors, as well as advanced materials manufacturing such as graphene and health innovation – key sectors that have fuelled recent economic growth.

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham said:

“This bold and innovative joint plan between Greater Manchester and the Government puts Greater Manchester back as an industrial and social pioneer. This is a plan focused on people and ensuring we have the good quality jobs to ensure people can succeed now and in to the future.  In Greater Manchester, we led the first industrial revolution and are now in a position to lead the fourth. 

“We want to be the UK’s leading green city-region, which is why our ambition to achieve carbon neutral living by 2038 is right at the heart of these plans.  We will show that these plans are not just the right thing for people and the environment but also right for our economy.

“We’re also setting out how advanced manufacturing along with the digital and creative sectors will now help to grow our economy and help us become a wholly digitally-enabled city-region.  The Local Industrial Strategy will enable us to drive our productivity and prosperity as we create the good, green jobs and skilled workforce that will power this thriving city-region’s economy into the future. 

“This comprehensive Strategy is yet another step on our devolution journey and will help Greater Manchester to become one of the best places in the world to live, work and invest in. 

“And we are putting together the pieces of the jigsaw to reveal the big picture – a Greater Manchester where prosperity, opportunity, health, hope and happiness are widely and fairly shared across all our people and places.” 

“The Local Industrial Strategy will enable us to drive our productivity and prosperity as we create the good, green jobs and skilled workforce that will power this thriving city-region’s economy into the future.”Mayor Andy Burnham

Greater Manchester is only the second place in the country to agree a Local Industrial Strategy with Government, and its Leaders are harnessing the full power of the most advanced devolution deal of any city-region in England for the benefit of almost three million residents.

The Greater Manchester Local Industrial Strategy represents a strong partnership between local leaders and Government and is focused on addressing the findings of the Greater Manchester Independent Prosperity Review, which identified a set of barriers the city-region must address to improve its economic performance, including:

• Population health
• Education and skills
• Infrastructure and transport capacity

The Strategy will tackle these barriers, while also responding to global changes affecting all residents including the climate crisis, technological advancement, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and an ageing society. It sets out plans to capitalise on the city-region’s unique assets and opportunities by:

• launching the UK’s first city-region Clean Growth Mission to achieve carbon neutral living in Greater Manchester by 2038.
• establishing Greater Manchester as a global leader on health and care innovation, creating new industries and jobs, and improving population health and extending healthy life expectancy;
• positioning Greater Manchester as a world leading region for innovative firms to experiment with, develop and adopt advanced materials in manufacturing;
• building on Greater Manchester’s position as a leading European digital city region, to maximise growing assets in cyber security, enable the digitalisation of all sectors and capitalise on the links between digital and creative industries that feed internationally-significant clusters in broadcasting, content creation and media;
• ensuring that the education, skills and employment system allow everyone to reach their potential and employers have access to the skills required to deliver the Greater Manchester Local Industrial Strategy.

In establishing the country’s first ever city-region Clean Growth Mission, Government is endorsing Greater Manchester’s bold ambition to become carbon-neutral by 2038, 12 years ahead of the national target, as set out in at the Green Summit event in Salford Quays in March.

And the Strategy’s commitment to drive prosperity and productivity across all 10 boroughs will be supported by the approach already outlined in the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, which will encourage and support local employers to identify and provide good jobs, deliver opportunities for people to progress and develop, and help the city-region become more productive.