Letter sent to the Chancellor ahead of the Budget

14 March 2016 – The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group (CLG) calls for the Chancellor to commit to a thriving low carbon UK plc in his 2016 Budget.

Read the letter.

The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group (CLG) has called on Chancellor George Osborne to bring the optimism and ambition of the Paris Agreement to bear in his plans and policies for the UK economy.

In an open letter, the group, represented by its Deputy Director Eliot Whittington, calls on the government to ensure the UK is better positioned to seize the opportunities represented by the Paris Agreement and to deliver a clear, encouraging policy framework that will drive success for business.

The December Paris Agreement, which the UK played a pioneering role in securing, sends a clear signal about the future priorities in the global economy, offering considerable opportunities for the UK to build on new sustainable technologies and business models, which many UK companies are at the forefront of developing.

The letter, which was sent shortly before the Chancellor’s budget statement this week, specifically calls on the Chancellor to take a series of actions including:

•    An extension of the Levy Control Framework (LCF) to create longer term certainty for investors.

•    To ensure that the reform of the business energy efficiency tax landscape clarifies rather than weakens price signals in support of energy efficiency.

•    To widen the scale of disclosure on both carbon and energy across the private sector.

•    To incentivise demand for domestic energy efficiency, as a priority for UK investment.

These are issues that the CLG has raised with the government over a number of months, and is part of a dialogue the group is committed to continuing over the year ahead. In the letter Eliot Whittington emphasises that “these issues remain an ongoing and important priority for UK business”.

Eliot Whittington, Deputy Director of the Corporate Leaders Group said:

“The unified voice of nearly 200 countries clearly called for a low carbon revolution last December. More and more business leaders are clear that this is a change to be welcomed. Business is ready to drive the low carbon economy in the UK but government must clearly align its intentions and help to unlock that change. The Chancellor has the power to help rewire Britain’s economy and put us on a path to a thriving, prosperous low carbon future, and we urge him to start to deploy that power in this budget.”

The CLG will continue to support government ambition by relaying the leadership messages of its members and working with broader stakeholders to build a stronger consensus on the way forward.