Green Investment Bank advisory group members appointed

The appointments to the Advisory Group for the Green Investment Bank (GIB) have been announced by the UK’s Business Secretary Vince Cable.

The group, chaired by Sir Adrian Montague, will advise Ministers on the establishment of the Green Investment Bank and its strategic direction.

The bank will become a key component of the Government's green policies and will accelerate the UK's transition to a green economy.

The nine members have a wide range of experience and capability in finance, from building and running institutions to project finance and making transactions.

The group also includes first rate expertise in green economics, sustainable and responsible financial services and development banking.

‘I am very pleased that we have secured such an excellent mix of people. The group has wide ranging credentials relating to energy and other environmentally important industries, hands on financing experience and a deep understanding of infrastructure projects. We also have people with a background of starting up new credit institutions and managing a development bank,’ said Cable.

Sir Adrian Montague said: ‘I have worked closely with Vince Cable to select the nine members to join me on the Green Investment Bank Advisory Board. They all bring a wealth of experience with them and I can't wait to start work with the group during this critical and exciting time in the development of the Green Investment Bank’.

The first meeting of the Advisory Group will be on Tuesday 06 September. Members include Lord Stern of Brentford, author of the landmark Stern Review on the economics of climate change, chairman of the influential Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, and holder of previous posts at the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Cable has also harnessed the expertise of Bob Wigley, the former chairman of Merrill Lynch in Europe whose 2010 report shaped government policy on the Green Investment Bank, and Simon Brooks, UK vice president of the European Investment Bank.

The others are John Burnham, former managing director and global head of infrastructure at Citigroup, David Gregson, chairman of Phoenix Equity Partners and a trustee of WWF-UK, Melville Haggard, managing director of Quartermain Advisers and a former advisor on Defra's Waste Infrastructure Delivery Programme, Dima Rifai, managing partner at sustainability specialists Paradigm Change Capital, Penny Shepherd, chief executive of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association and James Smith, former chairman of Shell UK and Carbon Trust board member.