The Times reports that Adair Turner is going to investigate why all the energy companies are exiting the renewables sector as fast as they possibly can.
Doubts have surfaced over the Government’s commitment to cut UK greenhouse gas emissions by at least 34 per cent by 2020 as falling oil prices and the global credit crisis have triggered a funding crisis. Last week E.ON, the German utility group, and Masdar, a fund controlled by Abu Dhabi, said that they were reconsidering the viability of the London Array.
Shell pulled out of the scheme last year, citing spiralling costs, while BP also said it was abandoning the UK’s renewable energy sector, blaming a lack of incentives. Gordon Brown has put the creation of thousands of “green-collar” jobs at the centre of his plans for an economic recovery.
When times are good, big business can play along with the green scam as a sop to politicians and as a quid pro quo for favours in other areas. Now that belts are being tightened, executives are having to get real.
Expect all of the spending on green projects to go down the same plughole as the bank bailout cash.