The UK’s Green Investment Bank (GIB) failed to live up to original ambitions and there is no guarantee that it ever will following its sale last year to Macquarie, according to a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) inquiry.
The committee said energy department BEIS prioritised reducing public debt from the sale over its intended objectives of encouraging investment in the green economy.
The measures ministers put in place to protect GIB’s so-called Green Purposes after the £1.6bn sale in August 2017 are not sufficient to ensure the bank – since rebranded Green Investment Group – would be an “enduring institution”.
“It is unclear whether Green Investment Group will continue to support the government’s energy policy, or continue to have an impact on the UK’s climate change goals,” it said.
PAC deputy chairman Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said: “The manner in which it was sold off is therefore deeply regrettable.
“It was a mistake to repeal legislation protecting GIB’s green investment obligations without securing firmer commitments from potential buyers.”
Image: BEIS (Steph Gray)
UK green bank ‘failed’
By EBS