Green taxes are killing European investment, says Ineos boss Ratcliffe
Britain's richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe has hit out at “foolish” green taxes which scare investors away from the UK and push them towards the US and China.
The Ineos founder said Europe’s insistence on taxing emissions were like a well-intentioned "Charge of the Light Brigade".
Read more: Jim Ratcliffe: Government's shale policy is an 'unworkable' mess
Pushing firms to invest in countries which care less about emissions will have unintended consequences, the businessman said.
“Europe remains with an industry built one or two generations ago with old environmental standards and has frightened away new investment for a generation with heavy green taxes,” Ratcliffe wrote in a letter to European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.
Read more: Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos sides with May's Brexit deal
It comes weeks after Ineos said it was pouring £3bn into a new petrochemicals plant in Belgium.
Ratcliffe said he had been asked if he was “quite mad” after the project was announced.