Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 32
32
We welcome the creation of a National Infrastructure Bank: we trust that the Government has...
Recommendation
We welcome the creation of a National Infrastructure Bank: we trust that the Government has learned from the experience of selling off the previous Green Investment Bank. We recommend that the Government give an unequivocal guarantee, supported in statute if necessary, that the Bank will be maintained as a public institution for the long term. We further recommend that, in addition to a mandate to contribute to the delivery of net zero, the Bank be given a mandate to encourage the financing of projects which promote nature recovery. We recommend that the Government give an unequivocal guarantee, supported in statute if necessary, that the Bank will be maintained as a public institution for the long term. We further recommend that, in addition to a mandate to contribute to the delivery of net zero, the Bank be given a mandate to encourage the financing of projects which promote nature recovery. (Paragraph 201) 76 Growing back better: putting nature and net zero at the heart of the economic recovery
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
At Budget, the Government set out within in the UK Infrastructure Bank Policy Design Document its intention to set up the Bank so that it remains as part of the public sector, fulfilling its role in supporting investment, permanently. The Government will bring forward legislation as soon as the parliamentary timetable allows to put the Bank on a statutory footing. As set out in the Budget, the UK Infrastructure Bank will pursue two core policy objectives through its interventions in the infrastructure market: to help tackle climate change, particularly meeting our net zero emissions target by 2050; and to support regional and local economic growth. While the Bank’s initial focus will be on climate change mitigation and resilience, the Government will review the case for broadening this to include other areas such as improving the UK’s natural capital, before bringing forward legislation to put the Bank on a statutory footing.