The National Economic Fund will double the pace of investment with a focus on clean energy and green steel

The National Treasury has set out plans to accelerate investment, making up to £5 billion a year of public funding into clean energy, industrial change and strategic infrastructure as part of a more focused growth strategy.

Under the new approach, the fund will prioritize ten sectors, with clean energy at the core. These include energy storage, power networks, nuclear power, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage, near ports, green steel production, transportation infrastructure, regional regeneration, battery production and electric vehicle supply chains.

Oliver Holbourn, chief executive of the National Wealth Fund, said the strategy was designed to open up “growth opportunities in a clean energy environment” and position the UK to be more resilient and self-sufficient in a rapidly changing global economy.

The fund, which was renamed in 2024 from the UK Infrastructure Bank, has a core budget of around £28 billion. Over the past five years it has invested just over £8 billion, almost half of that in clean energy, and helped crowdsource £17 billion in private equity.

Holbourn said the NWF now aims to deploy the remainder of its capital over the next five financial years, targeting an average of £3 of private investment for every £1 of taxpayer funding. Clean energy will remain “an important part of our portfolio”, he said.

In total, the fund estimates that its activities will create or support almost 200,000 jobs and drive more than £100 billion into the UK economy. A spokesman confirmed that the headline figure included a “special” loan of up to £36.6 billion provided by the NWF for the Sizewell C nuclear project, and its core investment programme.

Beyond the ten priority sectors, NWF will also look at opportunities across 15 areas, including artificial intelligence and precious minerals. Holbourn said that strengthening “independent skills and tactics” is increasingly important, as there may be future investment in UK deposits of tungsten, cobalt, manganese and nickel, building on existing support for lithium and tin projects.

Based in Leeds, the National Wealth Fund is wholly owned by HM Treasury but operates independently of ministers. Its mandate is to support government growth and clean energy equipment, deliver returns to taxpayers, and stimulate private sector investment. Holbourn said the fund would continue to be “higher risk than other commercial financial institutions” while aiming to achieve core profitability over its planning period.

The fund’s minimum investment size is £25 million in equity or £50 million in debt, but Holbourn said average deal sizes would need to exceed £100 million to disburse funds at the required pace, as the organization has the capacity to complete around 40 investments a year.

To date, NWF has made approximately 70 investments. This includes major support for the development of the UK’s electricity transmission network, such as an £800 million financial guarantee to support SSE grid projects in the north of Scotland, and a £600 million commitment to Scottish Power to strengthen connections between Scotland and England.

It has also invested in the entire energy storage sector, including lithium-ion battery projects and long-term storage technologies such as Highview Power’s large-scale liquid wind energy storage systems. Other investments include Cornish Lithium, which aims to produce battery-grade lithium in Cornwall, and Cornish Metals, which is reviving historic tin mining in the region.

Holbourn said the rapid deployment strategy shows both urgency and opportunity. “We want to move quickly, but in a targeted and strategic way, helping to build the clean energy systems, industrial capacity and regional growth that the UK needs for the long term,” he said.