Snapshot: what the budget does for the green economy

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stacks of pound coins on a stock chart
In the last budget before the general election, Alistair Darling announced a series of measures that could have a positive environmental impact, including a £2 billion green investment bank
 

Fuel duty
Rise in fuel duty to be staggered. 1p per litre increase on April 1st, a further 1p on October 1 and 0.76p on January 1, 2011.

Offshore wind
Up to £60 million being made available to help ports develop manufacturing capability for wind turbines and to encourage manufacturers to locate their facilities in the UK rather than abroad.

Green investment bank
Bank to lend exclusively to those developing low-carbon infrastructure such as energy and transport projects. Loans will also be available to nuclear power. Government promises £1 billion in equity and looks to match it with an further £1 billion in private sector investment.

Cars
A 50 per cent reduction in company car tax for ultra-low carbon cars from 2010-2015 (those emitting between 1 - 75g CO2 per km)

Landfill tax

To increase by £8 per tonne from April 1, 2014. The Government also confirmed that the standard rate would not fall below £80 per tonne in future to provide certainty for business investment.

Boiler scrappage scheme

Launched in January 2010, householders can claim a £400 payment for upgrading their old boiler to a more efficient model. So far, 118,000 households have already made successful applications.

Feed-in Tariffs
From April 1st, 2010, energy companies will pay householders a premium for electricity they generate themselves from renewable sources up to a maximum of 5 megawatts of installed capacity.

Useful links
Full Budget 2010 documents

READ MORE...
INVESTIGATION
Farmers' markets, coops and repair shops will seed the new economy
It's called the 'Cinderella economy'. You know it as the local, sustainable businesses that don't make the GDP figures soar, but do provide jobs and glue communities together...
INVESTIGATION
What if we all traded energy between ourselves?
The time may soon be coming when every government will need to think about rationing fossil fuel usage. What's the quickest and most equitable way to do it?
COMMENT
Having both emissions trading and feed-in tariffs is a waste of time
The new feed-in tariffs are nothing if not controversial, but they also run the risk of conflicting with other, international, climate change policies
COMMENT
EU carbon trading scheme has been 'an enormous success'
The European Emissions Trading Scheme was always going to disappoint the NGOs who wanted a perfect climate solution, but simply bashing it ignores the progerss that can be made through small steps

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