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An Interview with John Flint, CEO of the National Wealth Fund
The National Wealth Fund has almost £28bn to drive investment and growth across the UK. How will you go about encouraging green investment?
"We do this in a number of ways – through our ongoing programme of outreach (of which Innovation Zero World is a good example – as well as speakers, we have a dedicated exhibition stand at the event), through using those we partner with on green projects to act as advocates, as they can help amplify our message and promote our ‘offer’, and through using our influence and insight to help create the right policy conditions for investment."
Tell us about your triple bottom line and the importance of tackling climate change in that?
"Climate change is hardwired into our triple bottom line, which is to help deliver the government’s growth and clean energy missions, generate a return for the taxpayer and crowd in private capital. The trick is to realise that all three are symbiotic. Clean energy is a key driver of growth and we can only realise the potential of relevant industries - environmentally and economically - if private investors come on board."
How important is it for the public and private sectors to work together?
"We need the private sector as partners – as project developers, sponsors and investors – otherwise the numbers simply don’t add up. The NWF has a large amount of capital to invest in the context of an arm’s length body (£28bn), but that’s nowhere near enough to get us to the net zero targets that have been set and that are so critical to the sustainability of our environment and economy. So public/private collaboration is essential."
What message are you hoping to get across at Innovation Zero World?
"The honest answer is that we operate in such a dynamic environment, to keep my messages fresh, I will hone them nearer the time. But I will definitely be making the case for the criticality of public/private partnership - laying down a challenge to those on both sides of the fence, as well as pitching to the clean energy sector to bring us their financing problems, so we can help solve them and unlock potential."
John Flint, CEO, National Wealth Fund