Response to Invest 2035: the UK’s modern industrial strategy

Submission to the Department for Business and Trade by CETEx and the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment

This report consists of a submission made in response to the consultation run by the Department for Business and Trade between 14 October and 25 November 2024 on Invest 2035, the UK’s ‘modern industrial strategy’ – the Government’s proposed 10-year plan for the economy.

The authors’ central message is that a UK Industrial Strategy must start from the recognition that the country’s economic success is reliant on an orderly and fast transition towards net zero and climate resilience, both at home and abroad. Without fast action now to mitigate emissions, build capabilities in relevant supply chains, adapt to a warming climate, and be a global leader on actions to address climate change, the UK will fail to protect its economy from substantial future costs. Inaction will also miss the economic, environmental and wellbeing opportunities presented by the transition to a resilient, clean economy.

The submission therefore calls for climate change to be a central consideration in the UK’s upcoming industrial strategy. The authors draw on research and insights from across CETEx and the Grantham Research Institute, and on work produced in collaboration with the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) and the Programme on Innovation and Diffusion (POID), also based at LSE, and the Productive and Inclusive Net Zero (PRINZ) programme.