Green Investment Bank to begin lending by next April

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has confirmed that the Green Investment Bank will begin lending within the next 11 months and may be used to deliver the first stages of the Green Deal.

In a speech made at a Climate Change Capital event in London, the deputy prime minister said the bank would prioritise the lending of capital to existing technologies in the early stages – and that the potential of the bank to support the Green Deal would be examined.

Clegg also announced that the bank would have full operational independence under the leadership of a new board.

“The bank will then be able to able to undertake a wide range of transactions,” said Clegg. “The initial £3bn by 2014/15 should enable the bank to catalyse an additional £15bn of investment in green infrastructure.”

The government predicts that the bank will have borrowing powers from April 2015 on the basis that the government target for debt to be falling as percentage of GDP has been met. The deputy prime minister added:

“The Green Investment Bank will go from an idea to a flow of investment in under two years, and quickly grow into an independent investing, and then borrowing, institution. A real legacy of the coalition government’s green commitment.”