Together with the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF), we have responded to the Labour Party’s National Policy Forum Commission: A green and digital future – Delivering growth.
We welcome the Labour Party’s commitment to growth, including its pledge to spend £28 billion a year until 2030 to tackle the climate crisis, while delivering secure, green jobs and supporting the most vulnerable. We also recognise Labour’s renewed focus on working with businesses, large and small, as well as the financial services sector, to improve productivity, increase living standards and spread growth more equitably across the UK.
Central to this is a Just Transition to Net Zero, delivered in partnership with, and for the benefit of people across the UK. Labour’s recent policy paper on growth rightly recognises this, committing to “harness the talent and efforts of working people in all parts of the country to generate growth”.
Our joint response suggests how impact investing and other sustainable investment approaches can play a crucial role in delivering Labour’s economic objectives, by bringing investors, companies, and policymakers together behind a shared vision for a greener and more prosperous UK. Key recommendations include:
- Linking proposed real economy change to a long-term, sustainable finance strategy.
- Committing to regulatory advances, including those already in train, to facilitate an increase in private capital flows towards green growth.
- Supporting the expansion of place-based impact investing.
- Providing blended finance and catalytic capital to enable private finance to fully participate in funding projects led by local authorities and businesses to drive forward growth.
You can read our full response below.