Pre-Budget Report: green business reaction

Juliet Davenport, founder and chief executive, Good Energy

"Good Energy welcomes the introduction of tax breaks for domestic micro-generation and is glad the government can see the benefits of rewarding green homeowners –something Good Energy started over five years ago. Creating a nation of green energy entrepreneurs will play a key role in achieving our national emissions reduction targets. We also welcome the support for company electric vehicles but would like the government to ensure that the electricity used to power these will be zero carbon from 100 per cent renewable sources."

Jo Butlin, vice president, SmartestEnergy

"We welcome the government's proposal to make a further £90m available for the European Investment Bank fund for green infrastructure projects, but this money must be ring-fenced for consented small and medium sized independent renewable energy projects which have the flexibility to deliver much more quickly and cost-effectively than the large utility-scale offshore windfarms."

Steve Mahon, chief investment officer, Low Carbon Accelerator

"The measures announced today such as the tax break for home renewable power generation along with the replacements scheme for domestic boilers fits in well with other government incentives such as the Feed-in Tariffs and should provide a welcome boost to the microgeneration sector. We think these measures will be a real stimulus to growth for low carbon businesses in the UK next year."

Peter Young, Chair, Aldersgate Group

"A much more urgent approach to financing green technologies is needed for the government to meet its low carbon targets. This majority of this can be delivered by the private sector but only with significant government commitment. The adoption of new financial mechanisms, such as green bonds and a green infrastructure bank, would accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy and lead to the creation of the highly skilled and highly paid jobs that the Chancellor is targeting."

Ben Caldecott, head of UK and EU climate change and energy policy, Climate Change Capital

"Alistair Darling's announcement in the Pre-Budget Review that the Government is now committed to funding four carbon, capture and storage (CCS) demonstration plants could be a major step forward for the development of this critical emission reducing technology. This sends another positive signal to those taking part in the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen. But in order to generate real commercial interest, it is crucial that the Government deploys this new money quickly and that the deployment of four CCS plants isn't beset by the problems that have affected the current UK CCS competition."

Ed Matthew, senior economics campaigner, Friends of the Earth

"With the future of the planet hanging in the balance in Copenhagen, the Pre-
Budget Report was a golden opportunity for the Chancellor to demonstrate genuine
global leadership in developing a low-carbon future - but he has chosen to be
timid when he needed to be bold.

Some of Alistair Darling's eco-initiatives are certainly welcome, but the economy doesn't need green tinkering - it needs a complete low carbon overhaul. He should have announced an ambitious new financial institution - a Green Investment Bank - to build a low-carbon economy and encourage the private sector to invest in greening the UK.

Investing in the UK's vast renewable energy potential and slashing energy waste
would create tens of thousands of new jobs, reduce our reliance on fossil fuels
and help create a safer, cleaner future. It's time the Government matched its green rhetoric with urgent green action."

Jeff Chapman, chief executive of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association

"Alastair Darling has today confirmed in his pre-Budget speech that the Government has given the go ahead [on funding] for four CCS demonstration plants in the UK. The announcement is a very positive one for the CCS industry. The Government's support is vital to the growth of the CCS industry, and today's announcement highlights the appetite for CCS in the UK and demonstrates that the Government is committed to CCS having an important role in meeting carbon targets. This announcement gives the green light for funding to UK CCS demonstration projects and, in combination with the Energy Bill before Parliament, could mean four full scale coal power plants in the UK fully equipped to near zero CO2 emissions."

Stephen Hale, director, Green Alliance

"This could be a breakthrough, or a kick into the long grass. Alistair Darling must announce the creation of a low-carbon investment bank in his pre-election budget this spring. Green Alliance believes that a green investment bank is the single most important step the Chancellor could take to secure a low carbon economic recovery. While the Chancellor's intentions appear admirable, getting low carbon investment flowing now must be the top priority.

Green Alliance welcomes the Chancellor's spending commitments on energy efficiency and low carbon business support. But we are disappointed that the opportunity to make more radical fiscal reforms in support of the green recovery have not been taken."

Douglas Watkinson, green tax expert, Deloitte

"The extension of the window for the additional support available for offshore windfarms currently commencing construction is a welcome boost for the offshore wind industry and provides project developers with a firmer basis with which to progress projects through the planning cycle.

When first announced in April's Budget the increase from 1.5 Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) to 2.0 ROCs for every megawatt hour of energy from offshore wind farms applied only to projects reaching financial close in the financial year 2009-2010 falling back to 1.75 ROCS for projects reaching financial close in 2010-11. Today's announcement extends the entitlement to double ROCs for future projects accredited before March 2014 and is designed to support a target of three gigawatts of investment in offshore wind, thereby contributing to achievement of the UK's renewable energy target.

At the other end of the spectrum, there is an income tax exemption for individuals for who generate small scale renewable power mainly for their own use. Today's announcement will ensure the feed-in tariffs they receive, worth on average £900 pounds a year, will not be subject to income tax."