Edinburgh has won the race to host the UK’s Green Investment Bank (GIB), although its main transaction team will be based in London.

Announcing the decision today, business secretary Vince Cable said: “Harnessing the strengths of Edinburgh and London will support the Green Investment Bank’s ambition to become a world leader. Edinburgh has a thriving green sector and respected expertise in areas such as asset management. London, as the world’s leading financial centre, will ensure that the GIB’s transaction team can hit the ground running.”

Edinburgh is the UK’s second largest financial centre and the devolved Scottish government has put a high priority on developing low-carbon energy sources.

“It’s not a surprise,” said Ed Matthew, programme director of Transform UK, a campaign group which has been lobbying for the GIB. “Edinburgh’s a powerhouse for the low-carbon economy.”

“But the most important decision is yet to come – whether [finance minister] George Osborne will announce in the budget whether the Green Investment Bank is allowed to borrow. If it can’t borrow, it won’t be a bank.”

Edinburgh: hosting the UK's Green Investment Bank (Photocredit)

The GIB is funded up to 2015 with £3 billion ($4.9 billion) in government money, and is due to begin operating later this year, pending state aid approvals from the EU. It is designed to accelerate private sector investment in the UK’s transition to a green economy, with an initial focus on offshore wind, waste processing and recycling, and domestic and industrial energy efficiency.

It is expected to have full borrowing powers from 2015, subject to public sector net debt falling as a percentage of GDP (which is now not expected by the government until the 2015-16 financial year). “This delay is killing the opportunity for this institution to fulfill its potential,” Matthew added.

The next step for the GIB is the recruitment of a chair and senior independent director with a view to it becoming fully operational this autumn, subject to state aid approval. The GIB is expected to employ 50-70 full-time equivalent staff across the two sites.

Por: Mark Nicholls
Fonte: Environmental Finance