EIC warns on Green Bank pitfalls

The Environmental Industries Commission has warned that a Green Investment Bank “will institutionalise a narrow understanding of the economic opportunities of green investment”. The EIC, the lead trade association for […]

The Environmental Industries Commission has warned that a Green Investment Bank “will institutionalise a narrow understanding of the economic opportunities of green investment”.

The EIC, the lead trade association for the UK’s environmental technology and services industry, was responding to the publication this week of the Green Investment Bank Commission report – known as the Wigley report after its chairman Bob Wigley.

EIC policy director Danny Stevens said: “If the bank’s mandate is limited to helping the UK meet the low-carbon investment challenge, the UK risks forfeiting the huge investment opportunities that exist across the whole of the environmental sector.

“It is vital that the bank embraces a full understanding of the economic opportunities of green investment.”

Stevens said that the report rightly concluded that government intervention in the economy is vital for creating the high growth markets that the bank will be looking to invest in.

“By intervening in the economy,” he said, “the government can price-in the true environmental cost of doing business and, in turn, establish new markets for green technologies, helping create large numbers of new businesses, jobs and export opportunities.

“The foundation for all green markets is principally a strong and stable environmental policy and regulatory framework. This will give investors long-term certainty on their investment decisions. A Green Investment Bank will, therefore, only be as successful as the environmental policy framework that underpins it.”

See Low carbon economy needs £550bn investment, says Wigley

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