Northern Ireland’s business community still has some way to go before it is at the forefront of tackling climate change.

The Executive has launched its Strategic Energy Framework for Northern Ireland, which sets out a number of principles towards a secure and sustainable future that includes a 40% renewable electricity target by 2025.

According to the Utility Regulator, 10.5% of the electricity distributed in the province this year has come from renewable sources such as tidal, wind, biomass and landfill gas.

Some local firms are leading the sustainable charge, but they remain the exception rather than the rule.

Developer Carvill Group has won awards for its environmentally friendly Woodbrook |housing development in |Lisburn, while Ballymena’s Wright Group is building energy efficient buses and Harland & Wolff is looking at wave energy technology.

There are also a number of smaller renewable energy companies like Airtricity and local firms already engaged in manufacturing solar and wind products, including Vertical Wind Energy, Limavady Gear Company, Kingspan Renewables and Willis Renewables.

Declan Allison of Friends of the Earth NI thinks attitudes will have to change before our firms become truly sustainable.

“The Northern Ireland business and political mindset is one of catching up,” he said.

“We’ve had 30 years of the Troubles, our GDP is 80% of the UK average and there is a view that we make that up through conventional economic development.

“Our argument would be that we will never catch up with the UK average through conventional economic development because the UK will keep developing too.

“We need to rethink our economic strategy and look at leapfrogging the rest of the UK through green technology and energy efficient measures.

“With the increase in fuel prices we are heading for a low carbon economy whether we accept climate change or not.”

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster told the NI Energy Conference last month that global agreements reached at the Copenhagen Summit will only work if action is taken at a local level.

“Climate change brings dangers but it also brings opportunities. If Northern Ireland is to prosper we will need to grasp those opportunities,” she said.