The Government’s new Green Investment Finance Fund is just another example of taxpayer money wastefully being funnelled into private businesses, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “In practice, the Green Investment Finance Fund will serve as a pot of corporate welfare, delivering taxpayer-funded subsidies for corporate greenwashing.”

“Private businesses already have strong incentives to increase efficiency, and to improve their brands with environmentally-friendly practices. That’s why businesses are already (for example) switching to electric vehicles, without the need for a special fund.”

“The Government hopes that its investments will be profitable, but if that were the case, private investors would already be funding the projects. Picking winners, even green winners, never pays off.”

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