EEDA - East of England Development Agency

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Sustainable Economy

A sustainable economy can be defined as economic development and growth that:

• is achieved within the limits of the environment
• ensures a strong, healthy and just society
• is through good governance and the responsible use of science.

Relevance to the East of England

With its low-lying coastal and agricultural areas, the East of England is particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change.

EEDA is leading the drive to reduce carbon, use resources more efficiently and develop renewable energy sources.

Why is the Sustainable Economy programme needed?

As a region, we need to:

• rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate climate change adaptation in the East of England
• meet ambitious targets for energy generation from renewable sources and remain the UK's leading renewable energy region
• support the region's environmental technologies and service companies to continue to grow
• maintain the East of England as the UK's leading region for food and farming, and help the sector to continue to improve its competitiveness and sustainability
• assist rural and coastal communities to diversify, raise productivity and improve access to key markets.

How will the Sustainable Economy programme be achieved?

EEDA's Sustainable Economy programme leads the move towards a low carbon, low resource economy to mitigate the impact of climate change. It does this by:

• setting reduction targets - for example, carbon reduction is a key goal for the regional economic strategy (RES)
• innovative campaigning such as our Cut your Carbon campaign
• supporting the region's growing environmental and energy technology sector - through Renewables East and other relevant enterprise hubs
• helping businesses and individuals in the region improve their efficient use of resources through Business Link
• providing access to EU and regional development funding with low carbon and resource efficiency themes
• leading projects for rural and coastal areas to adapt to climate change through projects such as Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) projects to safeguard and enhance the region's rural environment.

EEDA's Sustainable Economy drive is a standalone programme but also cuts across all our other activities.

EEDA's commitment

EEDA is reducing its own environmental impact by:

• reducing carbon emissions by increasing the energy efficiency of EEDA's buildings, with a commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2010
• developing an awareness raising and training programme for staff to increase EEDA's capacity to deliver environmental sustainability
• implementing a sustainability appraisal and strategic environmental assessment as part of the RES review
• gaining Environmental Management System (EMS) certification
• working towards a zero waste policy
• developing green travel plans.
  

Latest news

• Cut your carbon this Christmas 17 December 2008 Students from Swavesey Village College are cutting their carbon this Christmas with a new energy monitor, which was developed with funding from the East of England Development Agency (EEDA).
• Rural businesses benefiting from £30m+ funding boost 15 December 2008 More than £30 million has been allocated to rural projects by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) in the first year of the Rural Development Programme for England.
• RDAs welcome pioneering climate change bill - but say ‘hard work starts here’ 27 November 2008 England’s RDAs have welcomed the news that the UK has become the first country in the world to enshrine stringent CO2 reduction targets in law, but have said that the hard work lies ahead.
• Fuel for the future gets EEDA backing 18 November 2008 Woodlands in the East of England are set to provide fuel for the future after a new project received one of the largest funding awards of its kind in England.
• Food for thought - Regional conference asks: ‘How secure is our food supply?’ 13 November 2008 A regional conference convenes today to drive forward global issues around the security of food supply and examine what more can be done to safeguard food production in the future.

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