Their work has covered several policy areas, including environmental taxation, the politics of genetically-modified food, and the effectiveness of global environmental agreements. Together they show that there is great scope for innovation by industrialists and politicians in harnessing science and technology for environmental protection. The GECP director, Dr Frans Berkhout, introducing the reports at a Parliamentary briefing, said there was a strong role which government could play. Many businesses have adopted greener management, but this has had little impact on the products they produce and the ways in which they design and produce them. There are tremendous untapped opportunities in a period of rapid technological change.
Businesses respond to market signals and incentives.
At the moment, there are few economic incentives to encourage businesses to treat environmental costs seriously. Government should be setting tough strategic goals backed up by strong regulation and an integrated set of incentives. We have already lost our leading role in wind power technology, and we are now set to lose out on vital new sustainable technologies such as fuel cells and solar power. The GECP says new growth markets also include cleaner vehicles, such as hybrid and electric cars. And it sees big opportunities through sustainable innovation in established industries - for example, big energy efficiency gains are achievable in paper production, it believes, through the adoption of new techniques.