Foreign investors pile into London’s green dream, making it the ‘cleantech’ capital of Europe
London was the leading city in Europe for ‘cleantech’ projects last year, with investors piling into the cause as the UK chases its net zero target and maps its ‘levelling up’ agenda.
The UK snagged one in six of all foreign direct investment that came in behind cleantech last year, according to Big Four firm EY, as the energy transition and sustainability increasingly catches the eyes of investors.
The country attracted 59 cleantech projects last year, with 11 being in London alone, from across wind turbines, electric vehicle charging points or scaling green businesses, which was second only to Germany’s 67 projects.
It means that cleantech accounted for over six per cent of all the UK’s projects that had received foreign investment last year.
“The UK is also performing better on cleantech than perceptions might imply – our regular UK Attractiveness Survey has shown that while investor support for UK cleantech has grown significantly in recent years, Europe is still more likely to be perceived as a leader in this area,” managing partner for client services at EY, Alison Kay said.
“UK cleantech acceleration is vital. This is a priority area for investors and the UK may struggle to meet its climate commitments without coordinated cleantech investment. Crucially, our research also suggests cleantech investment can help level-up the UK economy.”