British Prime Minister David Cameron wants his coalition administration to be the ‘greenest government ever’. It is still too early to decide whether or not the new prime minister will keep his promise on green issues, but some promising notes have been sounded on clean technologies, such as renewable energy generation and energy efficiency.

The loudest has been that from the Green Investment Bank Commission, which was set up by the Conservatives and is led by former chairman Bob Wigley. It reported in June that ‘the scale of the investment required to meet UK climate change and renewable energy targets is unprecedented – and of a size not seen since the post second world war reconstruction.’

Describing the report as a ‘very important piece of work’, Greg Barker, minister of state for climate change, says: ‘We are totally committed to working towards a low carbon economy in a way that underpins the global competitiveness of the UK. We see a Green Investment Bank as a very important part of a transition that puts the UK at the forefront of green technology.’

The UK is not alone in this race. ‘All governments around the world are seeing cleantech as an opportunity to drive competitiveness […]