Lord Deben in conflict of interest row over his green clients — yet again
By Paul Homewood
From the Telegraph:
One of the Government’s leading Net Zero advisers is facing questions over whether he correctly declared his interests after it emerged that his company advised a firm specialising in clean energy projects.
Lord Deben, who chairs the climate change committee (CCC), is also the chairman of a consultancy that has worked with an investment firm responsible for financing “environmental infrastructure markets”.
The CCC is a statutory body advising the Government on greenhouse gas emissions targets. In 2019, it recommended that ministers adopt a target for Net Zero greenhouse gases by 2050.
Lord Deben founded and chairs Sancroft, which bills itself as an “international sustainability consultancy”.
Last month, Sancroft posted an online job advertisement for a “sustainability/ESG (environmental, social and governance) senior analyst or analyst”. The job advert listed a number of “recent clients” of Sancroft, including a company called Sustainable Development Capital.
According to Sustainable Development Capital LLP’s website, it is a “specialist investment firm” with a “proven track record of financing and developing clean energy, energy efficiency and decentralised energy infrastructure projects”, including in the UK.
“SDCL was launched to facilitate investment into environmental infrastructure markets,” the site says. “It has always focused on investing in projects that are good for the environment, good for people and commercially sustainable. Indeed, it has always said that ‘if it is not commercial, it is not sustainable’”.
However, Sancroft’s role advising the firm is not listed in Lord Deben’s House of Lords register of interest. This register does include other clients of Sancroft, noting that the firm has been “asked by Bain & Company (management consultants) to work with them in advising the Qatari government on their sustainability programme”.
It also notes that Sancroft has advised “Greencoat Capital Ltd on sustainability”. The company, now known as Schroders Greencoat, is a “specialist manager dedicated to the renewable energy infrastructure sector”.
There is also no reference to Sustainable Development Capital in the CCC’s latest register of interests for the 2022-23 financial year, although the register once again mentions the fact that Sancroft has worked with Greencoat Capital.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Graham Stringer, a Labour MP who sits on the Commons science and technology select committee, said Lord Deben should urgently make sure he had correctly registered his interests.
He said: “Politicians, particularly Lords, have got a bad name at the moment, and people who don’t declare their interests are undermining trust in politics.”
Marcus Fysh, a Conservative MP, said: “It’s important to be transparent about these matters. I think it’s a risk that there is the perception of a bias if this stuff is not declared.”
Mr Stringer claimed Lord Deben had “proved resistant about declaring his interests at different bodies” in the past.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
The Lord of the bible would be appalled at the “Lords” of the UK!
If only he would come and purge the temple of moneychangers.
‘He’
He wouldn’t be the only one since the moron Tony BLiar destroyed the perfectly good hereditary system and turned it into a home for 3rd rate failed politicians like that creep Tom Watson.
This man’s company advises investors what to invest in while recommending to to parliament the legislation they should pass to make large regressive profits for those investors, from the businesses established by insiders to harvest green subsides we are forced to pay by their laws, and which their rich clients can invest before the opporitunities are made public, if they ever are. Think PPE on sterpids, neatly £100Billion topped into the troughs and pockets of these people every yar, for no benefit to those who have these susbidies added to their bills by Gummer’s laws. What could possibly go wrong..
All the usual rackets, CCS, Hydrogen, Wind, solar, waste treatment, batteries etc. are a fraud on the facts of rhe best way to create cheap and affordable energy delivery, imposed by government to profit their cronies. Legalised crime. Just in case anyone had not figured this out themselves.
Insider trading squared!
Deben has been investigated before and found ‘innocent’. However, the investigating panel were members of his CC Committee! Same will happen again. He will get away with it.
Trougher Yeo has a worthy competitor.
Yeo is not in the same league!
Follow the money as always. I don’t suppose anybody here is surprised at the news although why it has taken so long for the MSM to cotton on is a bit of a surprise.
Not really – the legacy media have been useless for years through incompetence and now with the addition of censorship.
He has got away with it in the past, he will get away again. They advertised his CCC job a few months ago, so he must be stepping down!
Any bets on who would replace him?
He seems to be keeping it warm for someone…
Chris Skidmore?
Gove
Is it not called corruption?
No, its called “rot”… “My feelings dictate my opinions which are sacrosanct because I chair an influential committee – it is all “settled” “
‘undermining trust in politics’
Well, there is an upside.
Although that statement presumes that there is trust to undermine… Can you have negative trust?
Why a pig ? – surely mad cow disease could explain his irrationality
Fair point – but ever since the mad cow disease I’ve always thought of him as scum.
Because he has a snout and it’s in a number of troughs.
Doesn’t seem to matter, though, does it?
I could put up with the man enriching himself (though not at my expense – spit) but I can’t, ever, never, forgive the man for reducing this country to the state it is in when it comes to energy needs. If not for him we could have been energy-independent at a very affordable rate. For that, there is no forgiveness, especially so for a man who makes a big thing of being a devout Catholic.
“devout” ……I think that irrational behaviour is the root of his delusion.
“devout Catholic.”…..Club Of Rome?
Why is he still there at all?
https://publicappointments.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/appointment/urn503-climate-change-committee-chair/
He has more than overstayed his welcome.
Big socialist government, such as we have had all this century, has to be corrupt.
I cannot understand (no that’s not true, I can understand – it’s because it suits them) why it is deemed OK for politicians and other public figures to have a conflict of interest. Of course, non-disclosure of a conflict should be a no-no, but why is a conflict OK just because it’s disclosed for all to see? Anyone in a public position, paid for by the UK taxpayer, should have no conceivable conflict of interest, end of story.
We, in the UK, have a long standing tradition – whenever people are accused of a crime – that they are adjudged innocent before being found guilty.
My Noble Lord GumGum however ( & he’s not unique in this, amongst the political class) has form about disguising his pecuniary interests & personal benefits whenever legislation he promotes becomes law of the land.
There is a time – fast approaching – when the innocent before being proven guilty schtick must be set aside for those in the political classes.
Parasitism is a disease not a life style choice.
And what about Baroness Brown exposed here as a non exec director of Oersted Energy etc etc and other ‘renewable’ agencies?
And what about Baroness Brown exposed here as a non exec director of Oersted Energy etc etc and other ‘renewable’ agencies?
Gummer bent?
noooo…. can’t be.
Has anybody seen Tim Yeo recently?
This really is a very damning analysis from Harry Wilkinson – see the whole thread.
https://mobile.twitter.com/HarryWilkinsonn/status/1625537207955070976
Deben should go, pronto.
John Gummer has form when it comes to scrambling for additional income by joining organisations and boards where very little actual work need be done. Sadly he spouts green nonsense in his old age. When he was younger, one admired his sincerity when he didn’t accept the doom laden science when stuffed his children’s mouths with beef when mad cow disease was claimed to be a real threat. (178 deaths rather than the hundreds of thousands predicted, and so he was right about that!)
one tweet
“John Selwyn Grifter”