Budget 2021: Chancellor must 'make finance green,' say campaigners

Written By Roger Harrabin

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is being urged to use the Budget to change the financial system to better protect the environment.

One group wants him to impose a carbon tax and use the proceeds to protect the poor from high energy bills.

A second petition is calling for Bank of England rules to encourage banks not to invest in fossil fuels.

Mr Sunak is expected anyway to update the Bank’s mandate to include a greater focus on climate.

But campaigners want the new wording to stop the Bank from supporting fossil fuel firms through schemes such as its £20bn corporate bond purchase programme, which involves buying debt issued by firms such as Shell and BP.

The Bank responded to similar calls in January by saying that it has "an ambitious work programme on climate change, from the stress testing of the largest UK banks and insurers against climate-related financial risks through to working internationally with the central bank network for greening the financial system".

Roger Harrabin

Roger Harrabin is the BBC's Energy and Environment Analyst, and one of their senior journalists on the environment and energy. He has broadcast on environmental issues since the 1980s and has won many awards in print, TV and radio.

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