Latest Publications

This collection of essays published by the Social Market Foundation think-tank and the Chartered Banker Institute focuses on green finance and the role that financial services can play in delivering environmental goals. Contributors include: Mary Robinson and Sir Roger Gifford.

This report examines the ‘poverty premium’ in energy – a phenomenon where those living below the poverty line pay more when they buy their gas and electricity than higher-income households.

This Social Market Foundation (SMF) report examines how one can quantify and track the size of the “poverty premium” in the United Kingdom.

This briefing explores the true state of the UK's energy markets and examines the practicalities of the price freeze policy proposed by the Labour Party. It recommends policies which could help boost competition and market efficiency in the energy sector.

This new briefing paper brings together the evidence on switching, starting with the conundrum of prices rising in tandem with declining switching rates. It examines the characteristics of those who do switch, and considers what policymakers can do to boost consumer trust in the energy market.

How should the shape of the state change to confront the twin challenges of economic growth and environmental sustainability? In this essay, Dieter Helm argues that a new direction is needed which owes more to the rules-based order of Hayek than the short-run demand management of Keynes.

This essay, Simon Linnett, Executive Vice Chairman of Rothschild, asserts that carbon trading will be one of the most effective methods to combat climate change, since it allows the private sector to play a major role.

This paper provides a critique of the government's 2006 Energy Review, focusing on the continuing gaps between the current position as represented by the Review and the requirements of a credible energy policy.

In this publications Dr Dieter Helm argues that energy policy should adapt to reflect the new security priorities of supply and climate change.