Households will have to invest in Green technology

Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney is warning that homeowners, including those serving the private rental sector, will have to put money into new greener technology to help the UK meet climate targets.

Examples of household green technology given by Carney, in an interview with the BBC, include home insulation, heat pumps, and electric vehicle charging points.

Carney is overseeing a new National Wealth Fund, recently announced by Labour, to attract investment in infrastructure and green industry. The fund will initially invest in riskier areas of activity than would normally attract the private sector: the theory is that after public funds are put it, some private funding will follow.

Under its £7.3 billion National Wealth Fund, the government is to put money into the likes of gigafatories for batteries, hydrogen fuel, carbon capture, and so-called green steel. It aims to attract £3 of private sector funding for every £1 of taxpayers' money.

"As we're looking towards the end of the decade... you have better insulated homes, the cost of energy is lower, the cost of managing and running electric vehicles is lower" Carney told the BBC. "So there's an initial investment cost, but then the actual cost, the actual household bills that we pay, go down."

The fund is a reshaping of two existing organisations: the UK Infrastructure Bank and the British Business Bank. It will be overseen by a taskforce including Carney, Barclays chief executive C S Venkatakrishnan, Aviva chief executive Dame Amanda Blanc and large institutional investors.

The money from the government includes £1.8 billion to upgrade ports and build supply chains across the UK; £1.5 billion for new gigafactories; £2.5 billion for the steel industry; £1 billion for carbon capture; and £500m for green hydrogen.