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Green warning from MPs

Britain could lose out on hundreds of billions of pounds in green investment and fail to meet climate change targets if the government compromises on its Green Investment Bank, MPs warned yesterday.

The Environmental Audit Committee said the bank must be free to raise additional capital from investors following the government pledge to establish the bank with £1bn of capital to fund clean energy and low-carbon projects.

Concerns are growing the coalition could water down its plans.

These also involve placing unspecified proceeds from the sale of government assets into the bank.

The MPs said there have been reports of disagreement within the government about whether the Green Bank should be a fully-fledged investment bank, with the ability to borrow money and raise capital, or simply a fund.

There are concerns that if the Office for National Statistics classifies the bank as public sector it could undermine the government’s deficit reduction strategy, the committee said.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .