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CBI is urging the government to set out guidelines that gives companies the confidence to invest in green energy projects
Business leaders are to accuse ministers of failing to lay the groundwork fast enough for the raft of urgently needed low-carbon energy projects that are vital if Britain is to plug the widening gap between its energy requirements and its fast dwindling sources of power.
The CBI employers' group is urging the government to set out long-term, business-friendly guidelines that will give companies the confidence to invest in green energy infrastructure projects.
About a third of the UK's energy supply is scheduled to dry up over the next 10 years and the government has pledged to fill the gap in large part with low-carbon energy sources. By 2020 the UK is legally committed to lowering CO2 emissions by 34% from 1990 levels.
Katja Hall, chief policy director for the CBI, said: "We need the government to set a clear direction of travel and to stick to it. Businesses want to get on with building new low-carbon infrastructure, but there is still too much policy uncertainty."
The employers' body said that its members had become fed up with a plethora of headline-grabbing initiatives from Westminster in recent years – including the carbon reduction commitment and "feed-in tariffs" – which were radically altered after their introduction.
The CBI's intervention puts it on an increasingly long list of campaign groups voicing their frustrations at the slow progress being made in low-carbon investment planning. Over the weekend, a string of influential energy industry figures told the Guardian that they had become disillusioned with coalition claims to be the "greenest government ever".
Among them were Penny Shepherd, chief executive of UKSIF, Britain's leading organisation representing financiers specialising in green investments; Mark Shorrock, founder of the renewables investor Low Carbon Group; and Jonathon Porritt of the now-defunct Sustainable Development Commission.
In a CBI-commissioned report on low-carbon infrastructure, the management consultancy group Accenture highlighted opportunities for ministers to regain the initiative. Among them was the imminent reform of the electricity market, where CBI members feel that ministers must strike the right balance between driving investment in low-carbon infrastructure and encouraging competition in the industry. The report also calls for swift action on the government's green investment bank; action to push important projects through the planning process; and a clear and workable "green deal" to encourage energy efficiency.
The CBI noted that during the recession the UK spent $3.7bn on a "green stimulus package", compared with $6bn and $13bn in France and Germany respectively.
Separately, the Environmental Investment Organisation has published its "carbon rankings", in which the British insurance company Aviva leads a list of Europe's 300 largest companies in terms of low greenhouse gas emissions.
