Increasing the Capital Gains Tax rate for major carbon emitters and simplifying listing regulations for green companies are among the key policy suggestions from a diverse group of experts in a new e-book.
A small cluster of electric wind turbines spin the background while an array of solar panels capture energy from the sun

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh Business School, in collaboration with King’s Business School, have gathered insights from nearly forty thought-leaders on the policies that the new government should prioritise in its first six months to tackle climate change and position the UK as a leading net zero finance hub.

Download the e-book

This e-book features contributions from organisations such as Bankers for Net Zero, the World Benchmarking Alliance, the Global Systems Institute, the Climate Bonds Initiative, Chapter Zero, the GARP Risk Institute, and PWC, alongside several prominent universities. It offers 25 specific, actionable recommendations, addressing areas like green finance market incentives, built environment measures, and power infrastructure improvements.

Key recommendations include:

  • Creating an Office of Sustainability Planning to develop comprehensive and realistic climate risk scenarios over a 5 to 10-year period
  • Implementing higher capital gains tax rates for high-carbon emitters and polluters
  • Integrating environmental considerations within the AI regulatory framework outlined in the King’s Speech
  • Promoting green emerging market listings in London through streamlined listing processes and enhanced tax incentives
  • Issuing the first developed market sustainability-linked sovereign bond and a dedicated adaptation sovereign bond, along with expanding the Green Gilt programme
  • Providing capital and guarantees through UK Export Finance to support British innovators in marketing decarbonising and climate-adaptation technologies
  • Aligning UK insolvency laws with net zero goals to foster innovation in carbon-efficient projects
  • Streamlining planning and approval processes for green energy infrastructure and green gigafactories
  • Raising the carbon price to aid the transition to a low-carbon economy and strategically investing the revenues in the power grid to ensure energy price stability

Professor Luca Taschini, Director of the Centre for Business, Climate Change, and Sustainability at the University of Edinburgh Business School:

This book aims to inspire action on the UK’s sustainable finance priorities by presenting a collection of insights and practical recommendations.

Professor David Aikman, Director of the Qatar Centre for Global Banking and Finance at King’s Business School:

We’ve pulled together a range of expert and diverse voices from the UK’s climate finance thought-leaders. While the suggestions vary, what they all have in common is a bias towards immediate action. These are all practical suggestions that the government could start work on tomorrow.

The e-book was edited by David Carlin, Founder of Cambium Global Solutions & Visiting Research Fellow, King’s Business School; Professor David Aikman and Dr Marc Lepere of King’s Business School; and Luca Taschini, University of Edinburgh Business School.