The existence of this ‘price premium’ really should give us pause. Banks and other financiers’ willingness to support renewables projects is predicated in part, it appears, on their willingness to accept sub-par returns as the necessary price of going green. The key question, however, is how far such investor willingness to accept lower returns will stretch. Who knows? But if we have learnt anything from financial history, it is that banks, of all capitalist firms, are not charities. If we can be sure of anything, it is that their willingness to pay the premium in question will be limited, and
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