According to business group the CBI the UK’s power sector alone needs £150billion of private sector investment over the next twenty years.

Without future investment in renewables and with a third of our energy supply due to close in the next decade the CBI believe the UK is failing to attract the level of investment needed to build low-carbon infrastructure.

In a new report titled Risky Business: Investing in the UK’s low-carbon infrastructure, the CBI reveals senior business leaders are not convinced the UK can attract low-carbon investment at the scale and pace required.

CBI chief policy director, Katja Hall, said: “We know the UK needs a balanced energy mix to cut emissions and grow the low-carbon economy, but the big question now is how we pay for it.

“Businesses want to get on with building new low-carbon infrastructure, but there is still too much policy uncertainty. We need the Government to set a clear direction of travel and to stick to it.”

The report also calls on the Government to crack on with the Green Investment Bank, getting it to issue bonds ‘as soon as possible’ to provide a secure bridge between pension funds and capital intensive technologies.

The report’s findings were based on in-depth interviews by Accenture with a range of different investors from utilities, manufacturing and property owners on their views on potential barriers and solutions to securing investment.

Luke Walsh

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