Priorities

It seems that in business circles, the annual pronouncements of Larry Fink are awaited as eagerly as those of Warren Buffett. His company, BlackRock, does not have the best of reputations here, but as the world's largest asset manager, its chairman needs to be listened to. His 2020 view is that future investment needs to be aimed at those combating climate change.

It is regrettable therefore that leading Brexiteers like Nigel Farage and Mark François are expending their energies in planning events designed to do nothing more positive than rub the noses of the losing side in the Brexit election of December in their defeat. We should expect our elected representatives to concentrate their efforts on charting the UK's way forward in our exposed economic future.

Taking our cue from Mr Fink, what is being done to encourage investment in green technologies? The UK has a decent record of reducing dependency on fossil fuels compared with other G7 nations, but it has largely been on the basis of importing the products of the leading nations in this field, especially Denmark and Sweden. (These imports are going to be more costly after the 31st of December, unless we negotiate a fair trade deal with the EU.) Now that the once-off benefit of eliminating coal from our energy supply has been achieved, the spotlight shifts to road transport. Where is the British manufacturer prepared to follow Nissan in building a mass-market electric car in the UK? (Jaguar's i-Pace will be produced in Austria; the Welsh-built Aston Martin Rapide E is aimed at a niche market) How secure is Nissan's investment in Sunderland?

More importantly, where is the investment in battery technology? It seems there are no plans for any of the large players to produce high-capacity rechargeable batteries in the UK. And why is it in climate-change-denying Australia that the most promising battery development to date has occurred?

Government and industry need to direct more investment into green research and to building up the supply chain for servicing the green industries of the future. It will take time, but we must start now.