A Bank for the Future – Maximising public investment in a low-carbon economy

Type: Reports
Date: 7 July 2010
Campaigns: Climate

This report, commissioned by WDM and PLATFORM and written by former PriceWaterhouse Coopers consultant James Leaton, shows how we could create 50,000 green jobs by transforming the publicly-owned Royal Bank of Scotland into a powerful Green Investment Bank.

WDM and PLATFORM have been campaigning against RBS’s socially and environmentally disastrous investments, particularly their funding of destructive tar sands mining. But by following the recommendations of the report, the bank could become a force for social and environmental good.

In the report, James Leaton argues: “The government needs to bring together its banking reform and green agendas to set an example with RBS of how expertise in project finance, renewables and Small to Medium size Enterprises can contribute green jobs and infrastructure for the UK and beyond.”

The idea has received backing within parliament; 107 MPs have signed a motion (EDM 880) which “calls on the Government to use its majority share in RBS to prioritise climate change as a principal concern in RBS’s lending decisions.”

Meanwhile the Environmental Audit Committee earlier this year grilled RBS bank chiefs for funding pollution.  At the time Martin Horwood, MP for Cheltenham and Environmental Audit Committee member, described the sessions as, “One of the angriest select committees I can ever remember attending.”