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Microsoft, BA, Axa, PepsiCo Urge U.K. to Save 'Green' Bank Plan
2010-09-29 14:17:47.273 GMT
By Alex Morales
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp., PepsiCo Inc. and
British Airways Plc are among companies urging the U.K. to push
ahead with plans for a bank to spur investment in clean energy,
even as the government faces a record budget deficit.
Britain should ensure the bank is set up next year and
funded with as much as 6 billion pounds ($9.5 billion) over four
years to promote energy efficiency and renewable power,
according to a statement e-mailed today by the Aldersgate Group,
a lobby group representing 60 companies, lawmakers and non-
governmental groups.
Britain's Labour Party proposed the so-called Green
Investment Bank in March before losing an election that
installed a new government composed of Conservatives and Liberal
Democrats. While they expressed support for the institution in
their coalition agreement, they have yet to lay out plans.
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne has said nothing
is safe from spending cuts to be announced on Oct. 20.
"The spending review cannot just be about budget cuts,"
Peter Young, chairman of the Aldersgate Group, said in the
statement. "We also need to restore growth and build a more
resilient economy for the future. To achieve this, the Green
Investment Bank must be at the heart of the economic recovery,
repowering the economy and creating valuable green jobs."
Prime Minister David Cameron's coalition is proposing 113
billion pounds of spending cuts and tax increases to reduce a
record deficit of 11 percent of economic output. Chancellor of
the Exchequer George Osborne is due to set budgets for each
department in the spending review.
Trillions Needed
"Delays in setting up the Green Investment Bank will hold
up current investments in low-carbon technologies," the
Aldersgate Group said. Over time, as little as 4 billion pounds
of capitalization "could leverage over a hundred billion more
in investment from the private sector."
Osborne has expressed support for a Green Bank, setting up
an advisory panel when his party was out of office to recommend
methods to raise money and spur investment in clean technology.
The panel, chaired by former Merrill Lynch & Co. banker Bob
Wigley, said in June the U.K. should spend as much as 1 trillion
pounds by 2030 on projects to lower greenhouse gas emissions and
recommended a government bank to resolve funding bottlenecks.
The Aldersgate Group's members also include AXA SA's
Investment Managers unit, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and F&C
Asset Management Plc. The environmental groups Greenpeace UK,
WWF and Friends of the Earth are also signatories to the
statement, as are lawmakers Tim Yeo, chairman of Parliament's
Energy and Climate Change Committee, and Michael Meacher, a
former environment minister.
For Related News and Information:
Climate-change news: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Top environment stories: GREEN <GO>
Most-read environmental news: MNI ENV <GO>
Renewable Energy Stories: NI ALTNRG <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Todd White
To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Morales in London at +44-20-7330-7718 or
amorales2@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or landberg@bloomberg.net.
