4. Green Alliance : PSI report on Funding

The Green Alliance is a lobbying group which tries to influence public policy through, amongst other things,    carefully researched and targeted publications. With the current government spending round in mind, they commissioned a report on ‘Public Spending on the Environment’ from the Policy Studies Institute.

In summary, in its comments on energy, it says that  ‘It seems likely that additional government spending will be required to meet the ambitious targets set out in the Energy White Paper. Current  legislation, including, for example, the Renewables Obligation and the Energy Efficiency Commitment, should deliver significant private sector investment in sustainable energy. However, an additional £300 million a year of government expenditure will also be necessary.’  

The report suggests allocating:

It comments ‘These sums are small compared with the historic and current subsidies received by the nuclear industry, which plays no part in the sustainable energy vision of the Energy White Paper.  It is suggested that they could be found by reducing the public subsidy of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel.’.

The report also looks at other environmental issues including biodiversity.

---