{"id":5108,"date":"2012-11-30T17:58:07","date_gmt":"2012-11-30T17:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=5108"},"modified":"2012-11-30T17:58:07","modified_gmt":"2012-11-30T17:58:07","slug":"green-investment-bank-opens-for-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=5108","title":{"rendered":"Green Investment Bank opens for business"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Business Secretary, Vince Cable, has declared the Green Investment Bank (GIB) open for business as the Edinburgh and London-based bank will have access to \u00a33 billion of public funding designed to kick-start private investment in green technologies as the UK moves to a low-carbon economy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Solar Power Portal writes<\/span>:
\nHowever, the bank will be unable to borrow money until 2015, a constraint some have said will limit its usefulness.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the official opening, Cable said: \u2018The Green Investment Bank – a key coalition pledge – is now a reality. It will place the green economy at the heart of our recovery and position the UK in the forefront of the drive to develop clean energy.<\/p>\n

\u2018Three billion pounds of government money will leverage private sector capital to fund projects in priority sectors from offshore wind to waste and non domestic energy efficiency, helping to deliver our commitment to create jobs and growth right across the UK. Having the headquarters in Edinburgh is a powerful vote of confidence in the Union, and a testimony to our commitment to helping Scotland lead the green revolution.\u2019<\/p>\n

Cable also revealed that GIB has already made its first investments \u2013 committing \u00a38 million to support an anaerobic digestion project in the North East and investing \u00a35 million to retrofit Kingspan\u2019s UK industrial facilities with energy saving measures.<\/p>\n

Gaynor Hartnell, Chief Executive of the REA, welcomed the first investments, stating: \u2018We are pleased that the first investment is a bioenergy project. We hope that biomass and waste-to-energy \u2013 as well as offshore wind \u2013 will form a significant component of the Bank\u2019s activity. It is important to get as much leverage as possible from the initial \u00a33 billion and investment in a diverse portfolio of renewable technologies will be helpful. As the Bank\u2019s funding expands in future, it would be fantastic if it could follow in the footsteps of the German state-owned bank KfW.\u2019<\/p>\n

Ben Caldecott, Head of Policy at Climate Change Capital, welcomed the announcement but warned that the GIB \u2018must align its work closely with other government initiatives, such as the \u00a350bn UK Infrastructure Guarantee Scheme. Much could still go wrong, not least government reneging on its promise to give the GIB borrowing powers. But we remain confident that this will be an enduring institution, able to have significant impact and working in the national interest over many years to come.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Edward Davey concluded: \u2018The GIB will help attract the capital required to allow the green economy to blossom, encouraging investors to market and kick-starting low-carbon and energy efficiency projects.<\/p>\n

\u2018In combination with our electricity market reforms, there will be lasting economic benefit as a result, with new expertise and jobs created, that will give the UK a competitive edge.\u2019<\/p>\n

Solar Power Portal News<\/span>: LINK <\/a><\/p>\n

Building Co UK News<\/span>: LINK<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Business Secretary, Vince Cable, has declared the Green Investment Bank (GIB) open for business as the Edinburgh and London-based bank will have access to \u00a33 billion of public funding designed to kick-start private investment in green technologies as the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5108"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5110,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5108\/revisions\/5110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}