PM: UK among 'best places in the world for green investment'

The prime minister has hailed the UK as one of “the best places for green investment anywhere in the world” as the Green Investment Bank reached the £5bn investment milestone.

The Green Investment Bank announced today that green energy projects have received over £5bn in funding as result of its investments since it was started two years ago.

The Green Investment Bank has invested £1.6bn of capital itself, which has in turn has unlocked additional private sector investment boosting total investment to £5.2bn over the past two years.

David Cameron said: “Under this government, as part of our long-term economic plan to back business, create more jobs and secure a brighter future for Britain, we have become one of the best places for green investment anywhere in the world – and the Green Investment Bank has played an instrumental role in this.”

The Green Investment Bank opened in late October 2012 as the first dedicated green bank in the world. Since then it has invested £1.6bn in 37 projects. The bank claims its investments to date have supported 3,500 jobs.

Business secretary Vince Cable said government intervention “was necessary to jump start investment in cleaner, greener technology”.

He added: “The Green Investment Bank’s expertise has given investors the confidence to back projects that simply would not have happened without it.”

Its biggest investments to date include £241m in the Westermost Rough Offshore Wind Farm, which unlocked total investment of £888m; and £220m in the Gwynt y Mor Offshore Wind Farm which unlocked total investment of £440m.

The bank is also a major investor in the Green Deal Finance Company (GDFC), which provides Green Deal loans. It has invested £125m in the company which has a total investment of £169m.

Meanwhile, the GDFC announced it had now received applications for a total of £25m of Green Deal plans.

It also said it had had a record week of applications for Green Deal loans with 570 applications last week totalling £2.2m in value.

Mark Bayley, chief executive of the GDFC, said the company was “continuing its strong upward trajectory”.

He added: “We have become a desirable and important source of finance for our small and medium sized Green Deal providers, who are the driving force behind our sales growth.”