Environmental legislation 'needs £10bn investment, not £1bn'

The environmental legislation in the UK needs to change so that the Green Investment Bank receives funding of £10 billion, instead of £1 billion.

John Barwise, chairman of the Cumbria Green Business Forum, said that a greater amount of money needs to be put into the green bank in order for it to work effectively.

He stated that more finance would enable the country to develop a better renewable manufacturing solution, without relying on other nations to provide us with green energy.

"Unless we see sufficient funding going into that, all it will do is support other countries to utilise and capitalise on the investment bank and not our own home-based manufacturing base," Mr Barwise remarked.

His comments come just a few days after climate secretary Chris Huhne suggested in an interview with the Guardian that financing in the Green Investment Bank will be scaled back.

He told the publication that it could begin as a fund and then later develop as a bank, as the government's first priority is to reduce the country's deficit.

Posted by Joseph Hutton