The UK government’s “green technology challenge”, signposted by prime minister Tony Blair and due to be launched later this year, has been confirmed by Chancellor Gordon Brown’s budget. The government estimates the global green market at £440 billion annually by 2010, £150 billion in solar alone, and wants Britain to be leading player in what it sees as a green revolution. But Mr Blair’s initiative has already run into trouble with environmental campaigners who see it as a half hearted gesture in the light of the reduction in petrol and diesel fuel taxes. The reductions, they say will lead inevitably to higher levels of CO2 emissions and work directly against the effects of a special tax regime for companies investing in environmental technologies. The initiative will offer 100 per cent tax relief for investment in green projects and has been welcomed by The Environmental Industries Com- mission who see it as a boost for the £12 billion UK environmental industry, overcoming barriers to companies investing in air and water pollution controls. But Greenpeace say that the tax cuts undermine Tony Blair’s environmental ambitions.
