Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of using pension funds to finance Government investment in green projects.

At Mansion House on 10th July, the Chancellor set out the Government’s plans to reform the pensions market to secure better outcomes for pension savers and unlock an additional £75 billion of financing for growth by 2030.

Although pension funds must make their own investment decisions, the Government expects these reforms will benefit the UK’s most promising businesses across a variety of sectors.

More broadly the Government has provided significant support for green projects. Spending Review 2021 confirmed that since March 2021 the Government has committed a total of £30 billion of domestic investment for the green industrial revolution. Since then, the Government has made new announcements that provide long-term certainty on our investment plans, including £6 billion for energy efficiency and up to £20 billion for early deployment of Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage.

In addition, the Green Financing Programme raises cash which is earmarked towards eligible green expenditures, as set out in the Green Financing Framework, which is available at the link below:

UK Government Green Financing - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Every year the list of projects, funded by the issuance of green gilts and the National Savings and Investment Green Savings Bond, is published in the Allocation Report. The environmental impacts of these projects is then published in the Impact Report biennially, the first of which is due later in 2023.