Infrastructure: Energy finance runs out of steam

Where will the money come from? As climate change targets move ever closer and Europe’s crumbling infrastructure begins to show its age, the continent’s energy sector requires investment on an unprecedented scale. Yet at the very moment those needs have become just too pressing to defer, the financial crisis threatens to choke off the supply of capital.

In the UK alone, Ofgem, the energy industry regulator, believes it will be necessary to spend £200 billion ($313 billion) on infrastructure before 2020 if the country is to satisfy the legally binding environmental commitments it has made while also ensuring that the lights don’t go out.