By Kate Turner

The London skies were dark and gloomy last Thursday evening as 150 delegates gathered for the Carbon Trust debate. The weather might have matched the mood of the panel and audience too, but even after a bleak week of doubtful progress in Durban, dire economic news in Europe, and the disappointing Autumn Budget statement, there were still plenty of reasons to be optimistic about green growth.

Our CEO Juliet Davenport joined industry experts including Ray Baker, Director of Corporate responsibility at Kingfisher plc, whose brands include B&Q, Joe Franses, Head of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability at Coca-Cola enterprises, Michael Rolls, Director at Siemens UK Energy Sector, Fintan Whelan Finance Director at mainstream Renewable Power, and Tom Delay CEO of the Carbon trust. The debate was chaired by BBC journalist and presenter of HardTalk, Stephen Sackur who had come prepared to test the panel.

The challenge was clear: two days after the Chancellor described green policies as a "burden" and a "ridiculous cost" to British businesses, the panel were asked ‘where is the real green growth?’ The debate began with recognition of the growing divergence between those who believe green growth is an opportunity and those who see environmental concerns as a threat to business.

Osborne’s measures to assist energy intensive industries were noted as well as his now infamous words “We are not going to save the planet by shutting down our steel mills, aluminium smelters and paper manufacturers. All we will be doing is exporting valuable jobs out of Britain."

The panel agreed that there’s a lot to play for in terms of green jobs. Particularly as other countries recognise this potential, the UK risks losing any cutting edge and getting left behind. Are we willing to let those valuable jobs be exported out of Britain too?

Tom Delay described the current rhetoric of compensation around green measures as deeply unhelpful - £250m for energy intensive industries to deliver progress on energy efficiency and technology to improve their operations would be understandable, but suggesting that they are being bailed out of burdensome green policy is unacceptable.

Each member of the panel described how their organisations are working on realising the potential of green innovation and business.  Ray Baker argued that investing in energy efficiency and sustainable practices made sense, and whilst there is a cost for doing this now, the cost of inaction is far greater - and the longer you leave it the more expensive it gets.

Well done to the Carbon Trust for organising such an important and timely debate.  In the current economic climate it’s more crucial than ever that the green industry stands up for itself and works together to convince consumers and politicians that a clean green future is not only viable for the UK but that green growth is a real opportunity that must not be missed.