Government announces green investment

Business Secretary Vince Cable has announced the Government is to invest £80m in green infrastructure.

The funding has been committed to two specialist fund managers - who will make and manage investments in the small scale waste infrastructure sector - by a specialist team within the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

All BIS investments made by the fund managers will be match-funded, leveraging in at least £80m more to the projects.

The Government is investing directly, on fully commercial terms, ahead of obtaining state aid approval for the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB).

The fund managers will be responsible for generating and managing investments in areas such as waste recycling and reprocessing facilities, pre-treatment projects and energy-from-waste projects.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “These first investments are a landmark moment. They represent a great opportunity to unlock substantial commercial investment in green technologies and infrastructure. The Government has committed to setting the UK firmly on course towards a green and growing economy and today is another important step in that direction.

“Investing directly now shows that we are not just sitting on our hands while we wait for the UK Green Investment Bank to receive state aid approval.”

An initial fund of £50m will be managed by Foresight Group and an initial fund of £30m by Greensphere Capital. The maximum amount of individual investments is not likely to exceed £15m.

The Government will also make a further £100m available for investment in the non-domestic energy efficiency sector. A competition was launched last month for fund managers interested in working with BIS on this. The outcome of the competition will be announced in the summer.