Green Finance Taskforce: ‘Green policy overhaul needed to spur investment’

It says more funding is needed to develop environmental technology, infrastructure and services

The Green Finance Taskforce has published a government-commissioned report calling for the UK’s green policies to be overhauled, with the aim of unlocking billions in investment.

It says the global low carbon transition creates a huge opportunity for the country to lead the world in cutting emissions while driving growth but stresses more funding is needed to develop environmental technology, infrastructure and services.

The alliance of individuals and organisations has provided a series of recommendations for enabling the delivery of the public and private investment needed to meet national carbon budgets.

These include relaunching UK green finance activities through a new unified brand, improving climate risk management with data analytics and implementing the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

It also calls on the government to drive demand and supply for green lending products, boost investment into innovative clean technologies, clarify investor responsibilities and support local groups to foster involvement.

Finally, the Green Finance Taskforce says issuing a sovereign green bond would be an effective way of raising the necessary funds to support the green and resilient infrastructure pipeline that is needed.

Claire Perry MP, Minister for Energy and Clean Growth, said: “Today’s report represents a key milestone for our Clean Growth Strategy. I look forward to working with industry to enable businesses across the UK to take full advantage of the transition to a low carbon economy.”

Latest Podcast