UK to set up green finance research hubs in London and Leeds
The UK government will set up a new green finance research centre based in London and Leeds to advise the private sector on sustainable investments.
The £10m hubs will “provide world-class data and analytics to financial institutions and services such as banks, lenders, investors and insurers” to “better support their investment and business decisions by considering the impact on the environment and climate change”, according to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis).
It will be called the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment and will launch in April.
Beis said the new centre could give financial institutions “the latest environmental and scientific intelligence” to guide their investment strategies.
The new centre comes after Rishi Sunak last year unveiled a swathe of green finance initiatives, including the launch of UK green bonds this year and a new regulation making financial institutions report on their climate impact by 2025, as a part of the government’s net-zero by 2050 target.
City minister John Glen said: “We’ve set the ambition for net zero – now we must ensure our financial sector has the tools and information to get behind the transition.
“We’re already improving the climate data available by mandating TCFD-aligned disclosures across the economy and implementing a green taxonomy.
“This new centre will advance the UK’s leadership in green finance and bring forward the day when firms can access environmental data and analytics for every place on Earth, past, present and future.”