We Cannot Afford to Delay Green Investment

UKGBC responds to the Labour Party’s announcement that it will delay its plans to implement a £28 billion green investment fund due to the UK’s economic situation.

Simon McWhirter, UKGBC Deputy Chief Executive said:

"We’re troubled by Labour’s decision to delay much of its critical and overdue green funding. Investment in a high-quality built environment geared-up for net zero, vital nature restoration, and particularly a nationwide upgrade of Britain’s homes must be prioritised. We can’t go more years without the funding these projects urgently need without impacting our already desperate climate, nature, and housing emergencies.    

“To deliver Labour’s ambition for fuel poverty relief, a permanent slash to both energy bills and carbon emissions, and a massive boon in jobs, its large-scale investment plans for upgrading Britain’s homes must be protected.

“Successive reports by national and international climate experts from the Climate Change Committee to the UN have consistently made clear that there is no future economy except a green future economy. Every delay makes our industry’s transition more expensive, more urgent, and more difficult to achieve in time to avert immense climate disaster.

"The green transition is the defining economic opportunity of our time – we cannot afford to kick it down the road.”