U.K. Pledges 2.2 Billion Pounds for Clean Energy - BusinessWeek

U.K. Pledges 2.2 Billion Pounds for Clean Energy - BusinessWeek

The U.K. government pledged 2.2 billion pounds ($3.5 billion) for clean energy projects as it cut spending across other departments, saying it was safeguarding efforts to create jobs in new industries.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne earmarked as much as 1 billion pounds for a carbon capture and storage project that may go to Iberdrola SA and another 1 billion pounds for a Green Investment Bank. Another 200 million pounds will go for offshore wind technology and port facilities needed to handle the turbines.

“When money is short, we should ruthlessly prioritize those areas of public spending which are most likely to support economic growth, including investments in our transport and green energy infrastructure,” Osborne told Parliament today.

The measures were part of a broader package slashing 81 billion pounds of spending to curb a record budget deficit. Prime Minister David Cameron aims for his Conservative-led administration to be the “greenest” ever, targeting a 32 percent cut in CO2 emissions and 15 percent of U.K. energy coming from renewable sources by 2020.