The head of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association has hit out at policy barriers for renewable energy projects amidst reports that 2024 was the warmest on record.
CEO of UKSIF James Alexander said: “The financial system must rapidly transition away from activities that accelerate climate change, and towards those that decarbonise.
“Yet every week we encounter investors who have faced policy barriers like planning permission and grid connections which prevent them from investing in otherwise viable renewables projects.”
Copernicus, the Earth observation component of the EU’s space programme, reported that 2024 was the first year to cross the threshold of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for the annual global average temperature.
Sea surface temperatures remained exceptionally high, with July to December 2024, being the second warmest on record for the time of year, after 2023, Copernicus reported.
Alexander added: “The sustainable transition is the economic opportunity of the century, but only if policymakers urgently remove these barriers.”