By Kari Williamson

The investments will be match-funded, leveraging in at least £80m more to the projects in the areas of waste recycling and reprocessing facilities, pre-treatment projects and energy-from-waste projects.

Business Secretary Vince Cable, says: “These first investments are a landmark moment. They represent a great opportunity to unlock substantial commercial investment in green technologies and infrastructure. The Government has committed to setting the UK firmly on course towards a green and growing economy and today is another important step in that direction.

“Investing directly now shows that we are not just sitting on our hands while we wait for the UK Green Investment Bank to receive state aid approval.”

The Government is investing directly, on fully commercial terms, ahead of obtaining state aid approval for the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB).

An initial fund of £50m will be managed by Foresight Group and an initial fund of £30m by Greensphere Capital. The maximum amount of individual investments is not likely to exceed £15 million.

£100m for energy efficiency

The UK is also making a further £100m available for the non-domestic energy efficiency sector. A competition was launched last month for fund managers interested in working with BIS on this, and the outcome of the competition will be announced in the summer.