Rishi Sunak is planning to issue £15billion of new green savings bonds in a bid to fund clean energy projects and help the Government hit its climate change targets.
The Chancellor will announced the new bonds in a speech at Mansion House in the City of London later this week, according to The Times.
The scheme will allow people to invest in new solar power initiatives and wind farms.
The Government has set a target of hitting net-zero emissions by 2050 and is keen to bolster its green credentials ahead of the COP26 UN climate change summit in Glasgow in November.
However, Labour claimed that ‘there’s a real danger this green bonds announcement is all talk and no action’.
Rishi Sunak is planning to issue £15billion of new green savings bonds in a bid to fund clean energy projects and help the Government hit its climate change targets
The green bonds scheme will allow people to invest in new solar power initiatives and wind farms.
The green bonds scheme due to be set out by Mr Sunak will be one of the biggest in the world.
Sweden and Germany have both launched similar schemes, with the UK’s expected to be coordinated by the Government-backed National Savings and Investments organisation.
The first tranche of bonds, worth an estimated £7billion, will reportedly be issued in September this year.
However, the interest rate for the savings product is yet to be set, with experts warning that if it is too low people will not be enticed to buy, but if it is too high there will be questions around whether the scheme represents value for money for taxpayers.
Labour’s Bridget Phillipson, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said: ‘There’s a real danger this green bonds announcement is all talk and no action – just like the Chancellor’s long delayed Net Zero Review – and a distraction from the critical job of halting climate breakdown.
‘We need far more details and a watertight guarantee that these bonds are spent properly on the green jobs and initiatives that will curb climate breakdown.
‘The Chancellor must stop dragging his heels, and publish his final report into the Net Zero Review which has now been delayed since Autumn 2020.
‘And he should hardwire his Net Zero targets into his upcoming spending review, as Labour would do.’
