It's the City of London's turn to see its green ambitions put on ice.

With an election looming this year, Rishi Sunak's Conservative government has already delayed plans to phase out diesel cars and gas boilers. The City, Britain's financial services powerhouse, thought it might be immune — but no such luck.

Two long-awaited, major pieces of financial regulation — a list of what counts as a green investment and tougher climate disclosures for companies — are currently missing in the corridors of Whitehall.

“What we need to do is to keep pressure on government to deliver,” said Chris Hayward, policy chairman at the City of London Corporation. “This is a challenge in a general election year.”

The Conservative Party is desperately aiming to draw a line between itself and the more green-minded Labour Party — which is far ahead in the polls — even if the opposition party, too, has backtracked on some key pledges.

In abandoning green policies, the Tory party wants cash-strapped voters to believe it is on their side, and to avoid being outflanked by other parties on the right on the costs of the country’s “woke” climate goals.

When he was chancellor, Sunak touted green ambitions, calling on the U.K. to be the first "net zero aligned financial center." But as Prime Minister, he's performed a decisive U-turn, and his party is largely behind him, with no obvious green leader remaining in the Conservatives.

It means his government is now shying away from any sustainable rules that could put a burden on business — including for the City.

“A lot of the commitments have been made, but the policy has not been followed through,” said James Alexander, chief executive of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF), which represents green investors....

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