Investment expert says UK green bank is £5bn underfunded

Green investment specialist Nick Hanna has welcomed the announcement of the green investment bank but cautioned that it will need to work hard to leverage its £1 billion budget into meaningful sums.

Chancellor George Osborne yesterday announced plans to pump £1 billion into a green bank to place Britain at the forefront of the future low-carbon economy.

But green finance expert Hanna said he feared the government investment could be too little ? too late.

He added: ?In reality the green investment bank needs around £6 billion in order to leverage the hundreds of billions of investment required if Britain is to meets its carbon reduction targets by 2020.

?In addition, the bank needs to be properly independent and not just a re-labelled quango. It must have a remit to raise bonds in order to bridge the financing gap for low carbon technologies and properly develop the green economy.?

Hanna said there is also a danger that the green investment bank will focus on utility-scale projects and freeze out smaller scale developments.

He added: ?The green investment bank should support independent entrepreneurs and smaller companies developing green solutions. They are often faster to market but are struggling due to the lack of credit finance?.

Nick Hanna?s new book, The Green Investing Handbook lists over 250 innovative companies in the green sector and identifies emerging trends in green technologies and services covering ten main sectors.

The book delivers both demystifying explanations of the intricate technology at the heart of the green revolution, as well as providing comprehensive investment insight. It is designed to help the investor to make better-informed decisions when engaging with these complex, innovative and rapidly growing industries. And it does so whether the reader is interested in investing through equities, direct investment or funds.

The handbook gives investors everything they need to start investing in the sustainability revolution.

Nick Hanna is a writer specialising in green investments, and the creator of www.thegreeninvestor.co.uk. He is a director of a private investment company, C F Hanna Ltd, and since 2005 he has been responsible for managing the company’s green investment portfolio.