UK-Qatar low-carbon fund announced

The Prime Minister has revealed a strategic partnership will be formed between Qatar and the UK to create low-carbon technology.

Gordon Brown announced that the new £250million Qatar-UK Clean Technology Investment Fund will see the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the Carbon Trust work alongside each other.

I'm very pleased that the Carbon Trust will be working with the Government of Qatar to help bring about the move to a global low-carbon economy.

Gordon Brown

Prime Minister

The QIA will channel funding worth £150 million into the project, which will make venture capital financing available to clean energy companies based mainly in the UK.

Other investors will be sought to bring the fund's total value to £250 million.

In addition, the initiative will see knowledge transfer on the development, commercialisation and deployment of low-carbon technology between the UK and Qatar.

Mr Brown commented: "I'm very pleased that the Carbon Trust will be working with the Government of Qatar to help bring about the move to a global low-carbon economy.

Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust, added that the investment fund will allow Britain to lead the move towards the green economy and place it at the centre of environmentally-friendly innovation.

Last month, the Carbon Trust doubled the value of its applied research grants to £500,000, in an effort to speed up the development of low-carbon technology.