'Strong appetite' for green private investment

The Infrastructure & Projects Authority (IPA) believes there is strong and growing appetite from private sector investors in new infrastructure to tackle the carbon challenge.

Speaking at the Canadian Council for PPPs (CCPPP) conference online, IPA deputy chief executive Matthew Vickerstaff pointed to the UK government’s “huge focus on leveraging in private investment” to a range of energy projects aimed at helping meet the Net Zero 2050 challenge.

Vickerstaff pointed to hydrogen, new nuclear, carbon capture & storage, as well as retrofitting existing buildings and other forms of renewable energy as important areas for development.

He said that on these issues, engagement with the debt capital markets had been very strong, with a growing recognition from investors that financing green energy projects is an important part of their work.

He said institutional investors such as pension funds, through to banks, have “pivoted towards ESG investment” and he suggested the IPA is now seeing strong appetite for investing in the low carbon infrastructure that the government wants to deliver.

Vickerstaff was talking before Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled his 10-point plan for a ‘Green Industrial Revolution’.