The Budget by Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed that the Government is seeking to privatise the Green Investment Bank.
In the Budget document published after the Chancellor delivered his Budget to Parliament, the Government said that it will seek a private sector buyer for the bank.
The document said: “The Government is exploring options to move the Green Investment Bank into private ownership.
“This will ensure the future sustainability of the bank as well as increasing its impact by freeing it from the constraints of state aid and competition for public funding.”
In late June, the Government announced its intention to bring private capital into the bank, but this now suggests a full privatisation of it just three years after it was set up.
There was little else in the Budget on resource efficiency or the environment, with no changes to Landfill Tax announced.
But the Chancellor did confirm that the Government will not extend the proportion of environmental taxes in this Parliament, like it did under the previous Coalition government.
The document said: “The Government will continue to use the tax system to encourage positive environmental outcomes where tax is an efficient instrument to do so, for example in reforming Vehicle Excise Duty and the business tax landscape.
“The Government will not extend the Coalition government’s commitment to increasing the proportion of revenue from environmental taxes to this Parliament, as such a target does not always reflect the success of Government policy in achieving environmental outcomes.”
