Manufacturers have called on the government to boost training and education in the fight against climate change.
Trade body EEF insisted in a report submitted to the Treasury this week that businesses needed greater specialist understanding of how to be energy efficient.
The organisation said companies across the UK could contribute much more to reducing carbon emissions if they had the skills to do so.
Among other measures, the report called for government to:
Ensure that a new generation of combustion engineers and energy efficiency experts was being developed.
Encourage the Carbon Trust to customise the support it provides to meet varying needs of companies.
Task organisations such as the Manufacturing Advisory Service with promoting business understanding of environmental standards.
EEF director-general Martin Temple said: “Energy efficiency by all sectors can play a major role in helping the UK meet its target for reducing emissions. But the government needs to introduce more sophisticated measures to overcome the barriers to achieving greater energy efficiency.”
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The Stern Report this week called for immediate action to ward off the catastrophic consequences of climate change.
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