POLICY agendas need to keep up with growing investment appetite for low and zero carbon projects, if developed economies are serious about their net zero goals, the boss of Wood Group has warned.

Ken Gilmartin, chief executive of the engineering giant, told City A.M. that governments need to "match the ambition we have and need to accelerate to net zero".

"There are multiple facets to that, which need to happen in a parallel - policy as well as planning needs to be in a proper framework. In certain areas, and certain jurisdictions, it needs to be accelerated to match the ambition and scale of the challenge we have ahead of us," he said.

The boss of the FTSE 250 firm referenced the US Inflation Reduction Act as a key development in the green energy race, and also praised the UK government's decision to back carbon capture projects with £20bn of investment support as a "very encouraging" move.

His comments followed Wood's half-year results announced yesterday, where the company hiked its guidance - predicting higher pretax profits after hefty contract wins bolstered its order book.

The firm anticipates yearly revenues of $6bn.

Wood has also announced the exit of its finance chief, with David Kemp stepping down as chief financial officer after eight years at the helm.

(c) 2023 City A.M., source Newspaper