Britain risks being left behind unless it significantly ramps up support for green industries, an association of business leaders said Tuesday.
(Bloomberg) — Britain risks being left behind unless it significantly ramps up support for green industries, an association of business leaders said Tuesday.
The Institute of Directors said US President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act was a “game changer” that incentivizes companies to pick the US over the UK for green investments.
The European Union “is also raising the stakes” with its own green industrial plan, the London-based lobby group said. It conducted a survey of 859 leading businesspeople, showing that nearly 8 in 10 supported subsidies to combat climate change and compete with the EU and US.
Biden unleashed an unprecedented wave of green subsidies last year which is set to accelerate investment in the US, pushing renewables development and clean tech. In January, Grant Shapps, the UK’s energy secretary, called the IRA “dangerous” because it risks a move toward protectionist economic policies.
The UK has come under pressure from some companies, including power generator Drax Group Plc, to boost incentives to keep leading businesses in the country after Brexit altered the trading environment.
Read More: European Renewables Giant Says US Subsidies Spur Wind Investment
“The Inflation Reduction Act in the US is a game changer which cannot be ignored by UK policy makers,” said Roger Barker, the IoD’s director of policy, in an emailed statement. He said the government’s green “rhetoric needs to be converted into substance.”
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