Green Finance

Baroness Kramer Excerpts

Wednesday 31st October 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

I can see that the Chief Whip is taking note, as many of us were here until the early hours on the Northern Ireland legislation, so I hope my noble friend has not disclosed too much. The point on indices is right; I absolutely agree with that. The very fact that we are having this Question is because indices were produced and people could see where they ranked. The more that people see the data surrounding this, the more they can make informed decisions. That is why it was good that the Bank of England announced a couple of weeks ago that it is going to ask the Prudential Regulation Authority to ask banks and insurance companies to factor the climate into their investment decisions.

[Baroness Kramer (LD)]

My Lords, the Government will be aware from the Ernst & Young report that investment in green projects in the UK is down by nearly 70% this year. Does the Minister believe that that is in any way related to the Government’s decision to sell off the Green Investment Bank, which at one time provided essential seed money and leverage to give these projects lift-off?

[Lord Bates]

The investment going in is substantial. We are a leader in this area. Since 2015, the rate of emissions has fallen faster in this country than in any other G20 country, which we can be proud of. The fact that one in five electric vehicles sold in Europe is manufactured here in the UK is again something that we can be proud of, and we are investing heavily in that. We have a clean growth strategy, and an industrial strategy that has these issues at its heart.