The sustainable investment community has expressed worry and frustration that UK prime minister Rishi Sunak’s plans to delay or relax net-zero policies will undermine business and investor confidence in the country, and set it behind green policies being accelerated in markets such as the US and EU.
Sunak today announced sweeping changes to the UK’s net-zero strategy, including a delay on the ban on sales of petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035, slowing down the decommissioning of gas boilers and a moratorium on new energy efficiency regulation.
In his statement, Sunak said he felt a need to be honest about the cost of net zero, and that it was not right to impose more costs on working people.
However, with UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association members recently writing an open letter to Sunak warning that the UK is at risk of losing its head start on sustainable finance, ESG Clarity garnered the opinion of UK-based investment experts to find out the consequences of these changes.
