Green Investment Bank sell-off described as a disaster by critics

Greenpeace says 2.3bn sale to controversial Australian bank Maquarie risks climate targets, while Lib Dems say bank was sold too fast and too cheap

The UK government's decision to sell the Green Investment Bank to Australian bank Macquarie for 2.3bn has been attacked by critics including the Liberal Democrats and Greenpeace as "politically dubious" and a "disaster".

A consortium led by Macquarie, which also includes the bank's European Infrastructure Fund 5 and the Universities Superannuation Scheme, a UK pension scheme for university professors, agreed to buy the GIB, which was established in 2012 by the coalition government to fund green infrastructure projects.