Isra-Mart srl: Business losing patience with green policy uncertainty, says CBI

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Businesses want to lead the development of a low-carbon economy, but their "patience is wearing thin" with politicians' inconsistent approach to climate change policy, the CBI has warned this evening.

Speaking at the CBI's International Green Business Dinner, deputy director-general Dr Neil Bentley said low carbon investors needed greater "clarity and certainty" around domestic environmental regulations, such as the government's electricity market reforms and Green Deal scheme, as well as a binding global deal for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Addressing an audience including Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne and Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Bentley said the UK's introduction of "complex measures" to encourage investment in low-carbon power confused investors and left the country "not ahead of the pack, but out on a limb".

"We've got no international deal, no global carbon price, no meaningful EU price and the UK tying itself in costly green policy knots," Bentley said. "The UK is in danger of straining to hit its targets but missing the point: that we need an economy that's low carbon and competitive.

"To get there we need clarity and certainty for investors. And to my mind, all of this makes the case for a global deal even more compelling – not less. We need an international level playing field to help get us back on track, and make it possible for businesses to invest more in a low-carbon future."

Global emissions reached their highest ever level last year, but an international deal seemed further away than ever, Bentley said.

He said progress towards a deal depended on next month's Durban climate change summit producing assurances the carbon markets based on the Kyoto Protocol would survive, despite the agreement's scheduled expiration next year.

Finance must also be provided to help countries "leapfrog high-carbon development and go straight for... green technologies", Bentley said.

"This will give the global economy the boost it needs, but that can't be the end of it. Investors can't stake their trust – and their money – on vague promises of future action," he added. "The UN must secure a global, binding and comprehensive climate change deal, otherwise business and nations will lose faith.

"Businesses think and act globally – we need our political leaders to do the same."