UK attracts £9.7 billion of new foreign investment for green growth

The Prime Minister will announce today that an estimated 30,000 new jobs in the UK will be created as a result of 18 new trade and investment deals that have been signed to support green growth.

The package of 18 deals includes initiatives on wind and hydrogen energy, sustainable homes to carbon capture and storage.

The most prominent deals include proposals by Iberdrola to invest £6bn in the East Anglia Hub offshore windfarms, creating 7,000 jobs; plans by Prologis to invest £1.5bn developing net zero carbon warehouses which will support around 14,000 new jobs; and an announcement by Viridor to invest up to £1 billion into cutting-edge decarbonisation technology across five of their UK sites, creating 1,180 jobs.

The announcement comes as the Prime Minister is set to open a Global Investment Summit being held at the Science Museum in London today. He will also take part in a panel discussion with Bill Gates on the global energy transition and role of the private sector in tackling climate change.

Commenting on the 18 investment deals, Boris Johnson said: “The world’s top investors have seen the massive potential in the UK for growth and innovation in the industries of the future. The fantastic £9.7 billion of new investment we have secured today will power our economic recovery, creating thousands of jobs and helping to level up across the country”.

Ahead of the COP26 summit being held in Glasgow next month, this fresh announcement around green growth is one of a number of initiatives currently being released by the government.

Last night the government released a support package for people wanting to replace their gas boilers, and later this week the government is said to launch its Net Zero strategy.

In a second announcement at today’s summit, the Department for International Trade is set to launch a new ‘Investment Atlas’.  This Atlas is an online platform designed to help international investors identify and execute high priority investment opportunities across the UK.  The government sees this Atlas as playing an important role in its levelling up agenda.