UK being outspent on green growth says CBI boss; National Grid to pay customers to cut energy use – business live | Business
Key events
Here are the other snaps from across Europe’s stock markets, via Reuters:
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EUROPE’S STOXX 600 UP 0.2%
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EURO ZONE BLUE CHIPS UP 0.4%
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FRANCE’S CAC 40 UP 0.3%
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SPAIN’S IBEXUP 0.1%
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GERMANY’S DAX UP 0.3%
The UK’s FTSE 100 benchmark index is off to a positive start this week. It’s up 0.2% at 7,786 points.
Remember, the FTSE 100 is not too far off its all-time high. That is mainly thanks to its contingent of banks and oil companies, who have benefited in the past 12 months while growth stocks like technology companies have faltered. Central bank tightening is behind that: higher interest rates make the present value of future income lower.
The numbers to watch out for: the FTSE’s record intraday high of 7,903 points was set in May 2018, before closing at 7844.07. We’ll be on watch if it approaches that record this week.
CBI: UK needs to match US and EU green spending
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of business, economics and financial markets.
The head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) will today say the UK is falling behind the US and EU in developing the green economy, according to a biting assessment of the government’s failure to invest.
Tony Danker, the CBI’s director-general, will call for the government to aim for faster growth, with low-carbon technologies a key focus, in a speech today (Monday) at University College London.
The US and Europe are “outspending and outsmarting us” on green growth, Danker said. The White House under President Joe Biden has passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which will direct $369bn (£298bn) toward investing in renewable energy and reducing America’s planet-heating emissions, while the EU is considering ramping up its already considerable spending in response.
Danker (who formerly worked for the publisher of the Guardian) said:
We’re behind the Germans on heat-pumps, insulation and building retrofits, the French on EV charging infrastructure, and the US on operational carbon capture and storage projects – despite the UK’s North Sea advantage. We’re lagging all three on hydrogen funding.
While our competitors across Europe, Asia and the US are making their move, and going hell for leather, we seem to be second guessing ourselves and hoping for the best. It’s time for us to take those hard decisions, generating the forward momentum not only to limit recession this year but also get us really growing next.
You can read more here:
On a related (if shorter-term) note: the UK’s National Grid will today start paying some customers to use less energy, the first time it has used the new demand flexibility service.
The service has been trialled but not run in a live situation before. It will run from 5pm to 6pm on Monday, its Electricity Supply Operator arm said.
Our forecasts show electricity supply margins are expected to be tighter than normal on Monday evening. We have instructed coal-fired power units to be available to increase electricity supplies should it be needed tomorrow evening.
— National Grid ESO (@NationalGridESO) January 22, 2023
We are also activating a Live #DemandFlexibilityService event between 5-6pm tomorrow. This does not mean electricity supplies are at risk and people should not be worried.
— National Grid ESO (@NationalGridESO) January 22, 2023
The cold weather also means that National Grid has asked coal-fired power stations to heat up to be ready to meet peak demand (around the early evening as people start heating their homes and food). National Grid said: “These are precautionary measures to maintain the buffer of spare capacity we need.”
Full story:
The agenda
9:30am GMT: UK foreign direct investment involving UK companies (2021)
9:30am GMT: UK national balance sheet estimates (2022)
