Osborne castrates Green Bank plan

Back in November the prime minister appeared before the cross-parliamentary energy and climate change committee and told MPs that despite newspaper reports of rumours to the contrary, the Green Investment Bank would indeed be a bank and not a fund.

George-Osborne A few weeks later when those rumours and news reports just wouldn’t go away the energy secretary Chris Huhne wrote to The Guardian saying:

“The green investment bank must be a bank. Ducks quack, and banks borrow as well as lend.”

In what is undoubtedly the single most significant decision for the low carbon agenda since this government came to power, the Financial Times reports this morning that the Bank won’t in fact be able to borrow and operate as a proper bank until at least 2015.

Tomorrow’s budget will see the announcement of a duck that can’t quack, or can’t fly, or something. Mr Osborne and his officials have seen off Mr Huhne’s plan and prompted just the latest green u-turn.

Ernst and Young (E&Y) calculated there is a £370 billion low carbon funding gap that needs to be filled by the Green Bank. The Bank was intended to use relatively small amounts of public money to leverage much larger sums of private capital for investment in clean energy and energy efficiency. It was anticipated that a real green bank with the ability to borrow could raise £200-£300bn in private sector investment.

Even before today’s news E&Y warned that confidence in the UK clean tech sector is faltering. Their survey in January found that fewer UK-based corporates, financiers and clean tech companies now believe UK investment in clean energy and clean technology will increase in 2011 compared to 2010.

Just 7% of those surveyed expect there to be sufficient investment in 2011 to give the UK competitive advantage, compared to 17% in research a year earlier.

Hot on the heels of the bad news about the Green Investment Bank, the FT also reports this morning that the key funding stream for the UK’s programme of building at least four Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) demonstration projects in the UK will also be axed by Mr Osborne later this week. This leaves the coalition agreement pledge to build four CCS demos unfunded with no indication of whether the money will now be raised from general taxation of if the coalition plans to simply renege on their commitment altogether.

The demos had been due to be paid for by a levy on energy bills, which would have raised £9.5 bn, but the scheme would in turn have raised £6.5bn each year, created about 100,000 jobs and made the UK the world leader in developing this cutting edge technology.

The CCS cuts follow confirmation that the government’s scheme for supporting large scale solar power generation via so-called ‘Feed in tariffs’ was cut by 70 per cent last week, just a year after it was created, prompting fury from the clean tech industry and the loss of hundreds of jobs that were in the pipeline.

Like the cuts to CCS technology, this news will deter investment and see jobs and industries going overseas. A partner at Ernst and Young told the BBC:

“The whole investor market was totally disengaged as a result of the feed in tariff being ripped up.”

Equally, Ray Noble at the Renewable Energy Association, a trade body, said:

“No new (solar) projects will start after this comes into effect.”

Now with extremely limited funding for the proposed CCS programme, insufficient funding for renewables and energy efficiency, and with reports in the last few days suggesting even Mr Huhne admits that following Japan there may be delays and cost increases for the government’s proposed new nuclear programme, today’s news casts doubt over the coalition’s entire low carbon strategy.

It’s apparent that only an intervention by the prime minister to reign in Treasury officials, and prevent them from running energy policy entirely out of Number Eleven, will be able to breathe new life into their increasingly laughable claims to be the “greenest government ever”.

http://twitter.com/toryaardvark/status/50196108512739329 Tory Aardvark

RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv reports @JossGarman
http://twitter.com/toryaardvark/status/50196263249002496 Tory Aardvark

Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv reports ecomentalist & polar bear plummeting move eco tard @JossGarman
http://twitter.com/amishaghadiali/status/50196721120194560 Amisha Ghadiali

RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv reports @JossGarman
http://twitter.com/willtucker/status/50200310152560640 Will Tucker

RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv reports @JossGarman
http://twitter.com/rincewinduk/status/50201524558766080 Mike Ranscombe

RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv reports @JossGarman
http://twitter.com/fatcharlesh/status/50202027367743488 Charles Holland

RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv reports @JossGarman
http://twitter.com/samanthastips/status/50202288991645697 samantha

RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv reports @JossGarman
http://twitter.com/guppikb/status/50203328998682624 Guppi Bola

Just love the title for this one @jossgarman : Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv on @leftfootfwd
http://twitter.com/caspertk/status/50203463631646720 Casper ter Kuile

RT @guppikb: Just love the title for this one @jossgarman : Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv on @leftfootfwd
http://twitter.com/jossgarman/status/50207691943063552 Joss Garman

RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv reports @JossGarman
http://twitter.com/r_hughes1/status/50208204336021504 Rob Hughes

RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv reports @JossGarman
http://twitter.com/guyshrubsole/status/50210295947341824 Guy Shrubsole

RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv reports @JossGarman
http://twitter.com/we_save_energy/status/50214539869958144 Roger Lawrie

RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv reports @JossGarman
http://twitter.com/myinfamy/status/50225280459083776 Daniel Pitt

Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv #ConDemNation
http://twitter.com/ochre_lad/status/50251735549214722 Hugh Potter

RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv reports @JossGarman
http://twitter.com/rjones745/status/50290112596156416 Robert Jones

Ducks quack, says Huhne, but the government's duck will have its bill stapled shut until 2015 http://bit.ly/gJJDjP @leftfootfwd
http://twitter.com/darrenshirley/status/50300810600525824 Darren Shirley

RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv reports @JossGarman
http://twitter.com/carolinelucas/status/50306698124079106 Caroline Lucas

RT @danielvockins: Announcing Green Investment Bank duck that can’t quack, or can’t fly … http://bit.ly/hWszPz .>Hugely missed opportunity
http://twitter.com/joecassels/status/50306994657177600 Joe Cassels

RT @CarolineLucas: RT @danielvockins: Announcing Green Investment Bank duck that can’t quack, or can’t fly … http://bit.ly/hWszPz .> …
http://twitter.com/richopenshaw/status/50307624696160256 Richard Openshaw

RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv reports @JossGarman
http://twitter.com/mt_peru/status/50307733970362370 Mark Turner

RT @CarolineLucas: RT @danielvockins: Announcing Green Investment Bank duck that can’t quack, or can’t fly … http://bit.ly/hWszPz .> …
http://twitter.com/mutleyltfc/status/50308238910033920 *mutley*

RT @CarolineLucas: RT @danielvockins: Announcing Green Investment Bank duck that can’t quack, or can’t fly … http://bit.ly/hWszPz .> …
http://twitter.com/mymoniker/status/50308397324713985 Kieron Bryan

RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne castrates Green Bank plan: http://bit.ly/fy7fLv reports @JossGarman
http://twitter.com/vinaynair/status/50311220359729152 Vinay Nair

RT @CarolineLucas: RT @danielvockins: Announcing Green Investment Bank duck that can’t quack, or can’t fly … http://bit.ly/hWszPz .> …
http://twitter.com/joshryancollins/status/50312208818769920 josh ryan-collins

RT @CarolineLucas: RT @danielvockins: Announcing Green Investment Bank duck that can’t quack, or can’t fly … http://bit.ly/hWszPz .> …
http://twitter.com/harmsy/status/50312675137290240 Andrew Harmsworth

RT @CarolineLucas: RT @danielvockins: Announcing Green Investment Bank duck that can’t quack, or can’t fly … http://bit.ly/hWszPz .> …
http://twitter.com/miguelmendonca_/status/50314029863936001 Miguel Mendonca

RT @CarolineLucas: RT @danielvockins: Announcing Green Investment Bank duck that can’t quack, or can’t fly … http://bit.ly/hWszPz .> …
http://twitter.com/eastoxgreens/status/50318910234439680 EastOxfordGreens

RT @CarolineLucas: RT @danielvockins: Announcing Green Investment Bank duck that can’t quack, or can’t fly … http://bit.ly/hWszPz .> …
http://twitter.com/darktigerlily/status/50320708961710080 Susie Arnott

RT @CarolineLucas: RT @danielvockins: Announcing Green Investment Bank duck that can’t quack, or can’t fly … http://bit.ly/hWszPz .> …
http://twitter.com/poldyn/status/50332741371297792 Political Dynamite

RT @CarolineLucas: RT @danielvockins: Announcing Green Investment Bank duck that can’t quack, or can’t fly … http://bit.ly/hWszPz .> …
http://twitter.com/dannyvice/status/50334968248942592 Danny@thecapertree

RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne castrates green Bank plan http://bit.ly/gJJDjP such a tragic shame we have such a crap government.
http://twitter.com/pendantry/status/50354566323109888 Colin Reynolds

RT @CarolineLucas: RT @danielvockins: Announcing Green Investment Bank duck that can’t quack, or can’t fly … http://bit.ly/hWszPz .> …
Anon E Mouse

Joss Garman – It’s ok for rich posh boy eco toffs like yourself who don’t have to work to earn a living and just live out of the pockets of Big Daddy but for the rest of us on twelve hour shifts who have to drive to work this really stinks.

For you to be even considering solar cells in the UK shows your complete naivety on this whole subject.

Since your Plane Stupid campaign seems to have been a complete success why aren’t you now doing something else other than constant self promotion?
http://twitter.com/warringtongp/status/50458970695020544 WarringtonGreenParty

RT @CarolineLucas: RT @danielvockins: Announcing Green Investment Bank duck that can’t quack, or can’t fly … http://bit.ly/hWszPz .> …
george

RE, comment from an0n. just wait till oil is at 150$ plus a barrell – then you will be whingeing that you cant afford to drive, shop – if action isnt taken now with a credible forward looking energy plan – we are all going to suffer. the governement needs to think beyond the next election and pu tin place policy that both investors and consumers support
Anon E Mouse

george – So far we have had global cooing, global warming, peak oil crisis in the 1970′s blah blah blah

And still there is no alternative to oil because economically there isn’t one – I work designing energy saving devices and can you that the number of people who are against nuclear power is frightening. Even when you explain that our electricity from France is generated that way they still dislike it.

Wind power is no good. Tidal power technically unfeasible (currently) and photovoltaic doesn’t last long enough to cover the investment.

The wind doesn’t always blow george. A point somehow seemingly lost on this eco toff who doesn’t care what price the petrol is, because unlike the working classes he doesn’t inhabit that world where filling a tank with fuel is a concern.

You are right long term but this crisis in refilling your car is now…
Anon E Mouse

Cooling I meant!
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/03/budget-2011-bridging-investment-bank/ Budget 2011: We need a strong Green Bank to bridge green investment gap | Left Foot Forward

[...] for chancellor George Osborne as he contemplates his budget speech, which, as Left Foot Forward reported yesterday, seems set to curtail plans for a Green Investment Bank [...]
http://twitter.com/brandievansnh/status/50560360163459072 Brandi Evans

Osborne castrates Green Bank plan | Left Foot Forward: The Bank was intended to use relative… http://bit.ly/e7mbSG my site, DIY Videos
http://www.salvation-plan.com/plan-of-salvation-3.php/ Plan Of Salvation « Salvation Plan

[...] Osborne castrates Green Bank plan | Left Foot Forward [...]
http://twitter.com/savvaspapasavva/status/50587224999329792 Savvas Papasavva

RT @CarolineLucas: RT @danielvockins: Announcing Green Investment Bank duck that can’t quack, or can’t fly … http://bit.ly/hWszPz .> …
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/03/nick-clegg-nuclear-subsidies-broken-promise/ Nick Clegg has already broken his promise on nuclear subsidies | Left Foot Forward

[...] from the treasury, to delay the introduction of borrowing powers for the Green Investment Bank. Delays on the GIB, assaults on the newly introduced feed-in tariff, and a general conviction that the [...]
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/05/vince-cable-caught-seeking-to-scupper-uk%e2%80%99s-climate-efforts/ Vince Cable caught seeking to scupper UK’s climate efforts | Left Foot Forward

[...] in HMT and the Transport Department are lobbying against them and as with the argument over the Green Bank (an argument Huhne lost), it will ultimately be Cameron’s decision when it comes on [...]
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/07/tory-rights-deregulation-zealots-threatening-uks-green-growth/ Tory Right’s “deregulation zealots” threatening UK’s green growth | Left Foot Forward

[...] zero carbon by 2016 has been significantly watered down. Equally, the Green Investment Bank has been curtailed – prohibited from acting as a bank until 2014 at the [...]