Turn RBS into Green Investment Bank, says study

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Transforming the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) into the Green Investment Bank would ‘kick-start the green energy revolution’, according to a new report.

Commissioned by pressure group Platform and anti-poverty campaigners the World Development Movement, the research says the move would create 50,000 new green jobs a year in the environmental goods and services sector, increase efficiency, reduce the UK's carbon emissions and improve international competitiveness.

The research, by former Pricewaterhouse Coopers consultant James Leaton, also claims the proposed transformation of the publicly owned RBS would not increase the budget deficit.

A bank for the future – maximising public investment in a low carbon economy estimates at least £200bn needs to be invested in UK energy infrastructure over the next ten to 15 years.

In the report’s foreword, a Green Investment Bank is described as the ‘tipping point’ for creating the UK infrastructure needed to deliver projects such as wind farms, high-speed rail and electric cars.

World Development Movement director Deborah Doane warned the government against any move to scrap plans to invest public money in a Green Investment Bank.

Calling the report’s proposals ‘a no-brainer’, she added: ‘Not only wouldn’t it cost the taxpayer directly, it would boost the economy and create new jobs in the UK at a much-needed time.’