National Wealth Fund to Drive £100B into UK Companies, Infrastructure & Supply Chains

Earlier this week, the National Wealth Fund shared an update on its strategic plans, which set out an ambition to redirect its remaining funds by 2030/31, supporting 200,000 jobs and mobilising more than £100 billion into the UK¹.

Reinforcing its commitment to building a resilient and sustainable economic structure for the country, the announcement shares:

“The National Wealth Fund has today (Wednesday 28 January) set out its ambition to drive more than £100 billion of investment into the companies, infrastructure and supply chains that will unlock growth, creating a more prosperous, cleaner, greener and resilient future for the UK.”

What makes this announcement so compelling isn’t necessarily the scale of the funds, but the potential that it presents to post-industrial communities throughout the UK that have the infrastructure in place to embrace this opportunity.

The plan makes specific reference to the 200,000 jobs that it will create and support, with further commitments to accelerate the pathway to clean energy by saving 500 million tonnes of CO2e GHG emissions by 2050.

In order to achieve its objectives, the plan sets out three clear ambitions; to unlock growth opportunities on the pathway to clean energy; to accelerate place-based investment across all four nations of the UK; and to strengthen sovereign and strategic capabilities.

Aligning squarely with Government, the plan will focus on sectors targeted in the Industrial Strategy and priorities referenced in the Infrastructure Strategy, ensuring it delivers the positive impact intended.

Founder and CEO of TSC, Kate Hutchinson, comments: “The announcement from the National Wealth Fund has the potential to be life-changing for people living in post-industrial communities.

“It presents an opportunity that with the right support could deliver jobs, improve economic prosperity and empower those that have long waited for a catalyst to drive change.

“The fact that these plans prioritise clean energy, with a focus on industries that are delivering progress in the pursuit of a transition to more sustainable ways of working, comes as no surprise – yet is a welcome endorsement.

“There are 10 sectors referenced within the plans including carbon capture, usage and storage; hydrogen; energy storage, transport infrastructure and place-based regeneration, all topics that have been covered extensively during our events.

“The National Wealth Fund has committed £5.8 billion to these sectors, subject to investable propositions and progress on supporting policy, providing those with viable projects a chance to turn talk into action.

“In addition to the 10 priority sectors, there are a further 15 that the Fund has specified as those that in which it will pursue investment opportunities; those that are high growth, innovative projects and businesses that can be used to accelerate the delivery of core infrastructure.

“Once again, we can see a direct correlation between these sectors including life sciences, critical minerals, sustainable aviation fuels, water, offshore wind, solar, heat networks and electric vehicle charging and the topics that remain on the top of our agenda during events, webinars and committee meetings.

“Since we launched, we have made it clear that we are here to develop a movement, one that will promote opportunities like this to businesses, individuals and policy makers, ensuring that those with motivation, innovations and ideas have the platform to put them into practice.

“We hope that you will join us in celebrating this announcement from the National Wealth Fund, one that we will be discussing more during our next event, Green Finance UK on 19th March in Leeds. We hope to see you join us there.”

For further details about the events, webinars and membership community that is delivered through TSC, please visit: Membership – The Sustainability Community