How banks and government are working together to achieve net zero in the UK
Interchange Recharged
Wood Mackenzie
4.8 • 535 Ratings
🗓️ 7 May 2024
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the UK, the collaboration between banks and policymakers is crucial for accelerating the energy transition. The financial sector in the UK managed assets worth over 9 trillion UK pounds (11.3 trillion USD) as of 2020, with a considerable portion needing realignment towards sustainable investments to meet the 2050 net zero goal. The Climate Change Committee, an independent advisory board to the UK government, estimates 50 billion UK pounds, or US$60 billion per year, is needed to meet net zero goals.
Heather Buchanan is co-founder of Bankers For Net Zero, an initiative aiming to involve banks with governments to make better investment and policy decisions for the energy transition. One significant need for investment is the retrofitting of the housing stock; over half of the UK’s homes are old and inefficient. This a major challenge for banks. With host David Banmiller, Heather explores the financial implications of decarbonizing financed emissions from all banking products by 2050.
Plus, the importance of Energy Performance Certificates and measuring efficiency, the financial incentives to de-risk clean energy investments, and how B4NZ is working to engage banks, government and NGOs to drive us to net zero. Collaboration is crucial, but it’s a constant struggle.
For more information visit woodmac.com/podcasts. The Interchange is back at Wood Mackenzie’s Solar Energy and Storage Summit, in San Francisco on June 12. To secure your ticket visit woodmac.com/events/solar-energy-storage-summit.
In this episode:
00:00:08: Importance of collaboration between banks and policymakers for energy transition
00:00:43: About Bankers for Net Zero initiative
00:01:20: Discussion begins about financial community involvement in energy transition
00:01:35: Introduction and milestones of Bankers for Net Zero
00:04:19: Focus area for Bankers for Net Zero
00:06:06: Challenges faced in housing issue and retrofit issue
00:08:33: Introduction to National Retrofit Hub and role of energy performance certificate
00:10:40: Ideas to de-risk financial burden of energy efficiency
00:12:24: Coordinating energy efficiency on a larger scale
00:14:41: Importance of convincing constituents
00:15:22: Role of communities in the energy efficiency transition
00:16:20: Designing policy to support the energy efficiency efforts
00:18:01: Importance and issues of EPC in retrofitting
00:20:00: Balancing energy security and costs
00:23:35: The Role of Financial Institutions & SME's
00:25:50: Changes to GHG Protocols
00:27:04: Introduction to Project Perseus
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Wood McKenzie's Solar Energy and Storage Summit is back in Denver on the 29th and 30th of April, |
| 0:06.2 | 2026. It's co-located with the brand new North American Power and Renewables Forum, |
| 0:11.9 | which features senior speakers from across the U.S. power sector. Come and join over 450 senior |
| 0:18.2 | leaders from U.S. power developers, utilities, and independent power producers |
| 0:23.3 | to tackle the industry's biggest challenges. From navigating life after tax credits to capturing |
| 0:29.7 | the load growth boom, discover how the energy mix is evolving and how the U.S. is going to meet |
| 0:34.9 | that power demand. Seats are limited, so register now at woodmack.com. |
| 0:40.4 | This is the interchange recharge. |
| 0:43.5 | A Wood McKenzie production. |
| 0:45.4 | I'm David Banmiller. |
| 0:48.7 | In the UK, the collaboration between banks and policymakers is crucial for accelerating the energy transition. |
| 0:55.5 | The financial sector in the UK managed assets worth over 9 trillion pounds as of 2020, |
| 1:00.7 | with a considerable portion needing realignment towards sustainable investments to meet the 2050 net zero goal. |
| 1:06.2 | The Climate Change Committee, an independent advisory board to the UK government, estimates 50 billion |
| 1:11.8 | pounds or 60 billion US dollars per year is needed to meet net zero goals. This covers |
| 1:17.5 | investments across various sectors, including power generation, building upgrades, transportation, |
| 1:23.1 | and industry. Heather Buchanan is co-founder of bankers for net zero. We really look specifically through the lens of the bank's commitments to decarbonize their finance emissions by 2050. |
| 1:33.3 | Bankers for Net Zero is an initiative involving banks and stakeholders who directly work with policymakers to align financial practices with the UK's Net Zero targets. |
| 1:42.3 | Their efforts focus on policy recommendations |
| 1:45.4 | that facilitate investment in green technologies and infrastructure. This collaborative approach |
| 1:50.3 | ensures that the financial policy support and accelerate the necessary transitions in the energy |
| 1:55.7 | sector. Heather, thanks for joining us. Absolute pleasure. Thank you. |
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