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Thank you Councillor for your warm welcome and for your work as part of this review.
This is my second time this week in the Guildhall. We had the big Investment Summit here on Monday. It’s always very special to come to the Guildhall.
For 2,000 years this site has been a hub of development, business and finance, so it’s apt that we meet here today to discuss more modern means of generating profitable, sustainable growth in the UK.
I want to start by congratulating Vanessa and the team and everyone who has taken part in the Transition Finance Market Review and for publishing your comprehensive report and to City of London Corporation for hosting this event.
This is a really important review, which will influence how we think about financing the clean energy transition in the UK and around the world.
Our twin goals of clean power by 2030 and accelerating to net zero in 2050 are ambitious…
…but, as the men and women who stood in this Guildhall over the centuries knew, with any period of growth comes huge opportunity.
Which is why we need to deploy all the tools at our disposal – from innovative new technology at scale, to novel and creative financial packages that mirror that ambition.
Clean energy is at the heart of this government’s agenda.
We believe that clean energy is the economic and industrial opportunity of the 21st century.
Mobilising public and private finance will be critical to achieving our clean energy mission and international climate goals.
The government is working quickly to remove the barriers and deploy legislative actions to accelerate the work.
Take the de-facto onshore wind ban.
Removed within 72 hours of being in office…
Now we must support industry on how to break ground on multiple new projects.
It’s why we are introducing a Planning and Infrastructure Bill to speed up and streamline the planning process.
And we will also be updating the relevant National Policy Statements within the next 12 months to provide certainty to the industry.
By stimulating the market and crowding-in investment via Great British Energy, we stand to rapidly grow supply chains across the country, creating the well-paid and meaningful jobs our communities crave.
But this all points back to finance.
How do we approach the question of scaling up the investment we need?
First, our ambition is to make the UK the green finance capital of the world.
This will mobilise Britain’s world-leading financial centre to unlock the trillions of pounds of investment needed for the global energy transition.
A strong sustainable finance policy framework is critical to driving investment into the sectors that are crucial to meet our carbon budgets.
It also provides a huge economic growth opportunity for the financial services sector.
Second, there must be a genuine partnership between government and the private sector.
In the UK we need hundreds of billions of pounds of investment to make this transition happen.
Our role is to set a clear and certain direction of travel, with a plan that businesses and investors understand.
And third, we remain committed to being a strong advocate for climate finance to ensure developing countries across the world have the finance they need.
COP29 needs to deliver an ambitious new climate finance goal that meets the needs and priorities of developing countries.
This will be vital to accelerating investment in mitigation and adaptation and will play an important role in securing ambitious NDCs ahead of COP30 next year.
But we know that this won’t be as easy as flicking a switch for high emitting sectors.
Transition finance for hard-to-abate sectors will play a key role, particularly when it comes to challenges such as industrial decarbonisation.
I know there are complex challenges to overcome in scaling up the transition finance market.
These include minimising the risks of greenwashing and ensuring investors are equipped with the right information on investment needs for our sectors.
But there are huge opportunities too.
So, what is changing?
The Transition Finance Market Review has developed a comprehensive set of policy recommendations for how government can do more to accelerate the growth and ensure the credibility of our transition finance market.
The Review has called for more clarity on decarbonisation pathways for key sectors and ways of mobilising private investment to achieve these.
We will strive to deliver this clarity through existing and new policy, including our Industrial Strategy launched on Monday setting out the steps we are taking to deliver long-term growth while harnessing the opportunities of net zero.
Clean Energy Industries are one of eight growth-driving sectors identified in the Industrial Strategy green paper this week. This is alongside Advanced Manufacturing, Creative Industries, Defence, Digital and Technologies, Financial Services, Life Sciences, and Professional and Business Services.
We are now keen to hear your thoughts on how we identify the most promising sub-sectors within clean energy industries – including the most innovative emerging technologies.
More over, our green paper makes clear the UK is committed to sustaining growth – growth that is aligned with our Net Zero and environmental objectives.
We also announced a National Wealth Fund capitalised with £27.8 billion to invest in the new industries of the future and mobilise billions more in private investment and generating a return for taxpayers.
The National Wealth Fund will build on the leadership of the UK Infrastructure Bank but go further – including in ways recommended by the Transition Finance Market Review.
And just one example, the National Wealth Fund will be empowered to make investments that maximise the mobilisation of private investment, including an expanded suite of financial instruments such as performance guarantees and trialling new blended finance solutions, with government departments, taking on additional risk to facilitate higher impact in individual deals.
It will inherit UKIB’s existing £22 billion capitalisation and have an additional £5.8 billion, which will be committed over this Parliament.
In addition, we are driving forward several green finance priorities mentioned in the Review.
We are developing our approach to mandate UK registered financial institutions and large companies to implement credible transition plans.
we will ensure we move from ambition into coherent strategies to realise the opportunities of the net zero economy…
…and I want to extend my thanks to the Transition Plan Taskforce for their work to pioneer global best practice in this space.
We will also continue to advance our plans for a UK Green Taxonomy in line with our commitment in Financing Growth.
We want to ensure any framework is science-based, interoperable with international standards, and user-friendly for business and intend to provide more detail on our plans in this area soon.
Finally, we are advancing plans to ‘endorse’ international climate-related reporting standards issued by the International Sustainability Standards for use in the UK.
Our government will be studying the recommendations in the report very carefully and will be making further announcements on their implementation soon.
Clean power by 2030 is ambitious. But when you look around the world, you see that we have no time to waste.
Climactic events are worsening. All the industrialised nations around the world have a responsibility to step-up and redress this imbalance, using whatever resources necessary.
Domestically, we know that the advance of the green sector is intrinsically linked to the economy, and it is our core mission to deliver meaningful, well-paid jobs fuelled by renewable growth.
And it’s the reason we’re going all-out for clean power.
All of this hinges on mobilising green finance today, so that decades from now, people will remember this period as our green industrial revolution, delivering prosperity, skills and clean energy for millions of people.