Profits before planet: report
sheds new light on “green”
schemes which are in fact all
about plundering Cornwall’s
natural wealth

Many of the “desirable” green energy projects backed for investment and planning consents by the government and Cornwall Council are in fact offshore vehicles for tax-dodging, according to a new report.

Much of the wealth invested in offshore wind, solar farms and lithium mining does little to bring direct benefit to Cornwall.

The report, “Foreign direct investment and tax avoidance in Cornwall and the South West,” has been published by the Cornwall Independent Poverty Forum – a tiny charity registered in 2019.

Truro Cornwall councillor, Independent Loic Rich, is one of the trustees.  The others are the Rev Andrew Yates and Gavin Barker.

The forum argues for a Community Wealth Fund to develop socially and environmentally responsible projects for the common good.

Its eight-page report documents how firms operating in Cornwall’s “green economy” are “Cornish” in name only.  Key assets are all ultimately owned by overseas companies, some of them operating in tax havens.

You can download the report here: Briefing-FDI&TaxAvoid (1)

It says:

Cornwall remains one of the poorest regions in Europe. Despite claims of Cornwall as a ‘wind energy  powerhouse’ and the prospect of a ‘mining renaissance' with lithium playing a key role in the UK’s transition to a green economy, much of the wealth created could literally be extracted out of Cornwall instead of being reinvested back into the local economy.

It is these concerns that drive the proposal for a Community Wealth Fund for Cornwall.  Its aim is to ensure that more of the wealth created in Cornwall stays in Cornwall for the benefit of the people of Cornwall.

Our own research on the renewable energy sector underlines these concerns. Too often, foreign direct investment acts more like a suction pump than a waterhose: In the short term money flows in; in the longer term jobs, profits and wealth flow out.

Headline findings

Offshore wind energy: of the six off-shore wind energy projects operating off the Cornish coast, all were foreign owned and five were found to have links to tax havens.

Bio-methane energy: Bennamann, an innovative Cornish company, is now owned by Exor, an overseas holding company ultimately owned by the Italian Agnelli family.

Exor has had to pay 746 million euros ($845 million) to settle a tax dispute following its relocation to the Netherlands, one of the top ten tax havens in the world.

Lithium mining: Both Cornish Lithium, British Lithium and Cornish Metals are largely owned by major overseas shareholders and have links to tax havens

There are three other points to make

1. The high degree of overseas ownership means that profits that would otherwise be recycled back into Cornwall or the UK end up benefiting overseas shareholders.

Our findings are mirrored at the national level.   According to the report ‘Ending Stagnation’ by the Resolution Foundation, foreign ownership of British firms has risen from 10 per cent in 1990 to over 55 per cent in 2020.

1. Tax avoidance undermines the capacity of public services to deliver a healthy educated workforce on which the private sector relies. Health and education are two of the biggest in terms of public service spending.
2. The reliance on Foreign Direct Investment means that local communities and workers have no power over decisions made in boardrooms headquartered across the globe. Moreover these companies are large enough to dictate terms to both local and central government.

The actions of Dubai-based (a tax haven) DP World who threatened to pull the £1bn investment in the UK after being described as a “rogue operator” is a case in point.   Another example is RWE, a German multinational who in 2022, pointedly warned the British government that it would withhold £15bn of investment if a windfall tax was imposed.   They have a key ownership stake in the solar wind farm in mid-Cornwall.

This is not to ignore the jobs, value and expertise that such companies bring but such investment should not serve as an excuse to avoid paying a fair share of tax.

And while we know that some of these companies donate generously to Cornish charities, it would be better for Cornwall and the UK if they simply paid their fair share of tax.

Key findings in detail

Offshore Wind Energy

There are six off-shore wind energy projects. Five are located between Cornwall and the South Coast of Wales (known as the Celtic Sea) and one is located off the South Coast of Devon and Dorset. See this map

Key finding: of the six off-shore wind farms currently in operation, all are foreign owned and five were found to have links to tax havens.

These findings chime with a separate investigation by The Ferret, an award winning investigative platform based in Scotland, which revealed that nearly a third of Scotland’s biggest wind farms have owners with links to offshore tax havens in the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, Guernsey and Jersey.

The six off-shore wind farms based in the Celtic Sea are:

1) TwinHub offshore wind farm

Foreign owned: Yes

Links to tax havens: The only one of the six wind farms with no links to tax havens

TwinHub operates in the Celtic Sea off the South West Cornish Coast.    This is a floating offshore wind project is owned by Hexicon AB, a global corporation operating in three continents and headquartered in Sweden

2) Portwind offshore wind farm

Foreign owned: Yes

Links to tax havens: Yes

Operates off the Devon and Dorset coast is owned by SE Portwind Ltd (SEPL).

SEPL in turn is owned by Source Galileo, a joint venture formed by Source Energie and Galileo Green Energy. They own an 80% stake. The 20% stake is owned by the Ingka Group.

Galileo Green Energy

Galileo Green Energy is a pan-European renewable energy company with offices in several countries with group headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

Switzerland stands at no.4 in the Corporate Tax Haven Index due to low tax levels and privacy laws.

Source Energie

Source Energie is an Irish-founded renewable energy firm with offices in London and Dublin.

Ireland is considered one of the top ten global tax havens Ingka Group

Ingka Group is a Swedish conglomerate whose core business is IKEA retail and which is now investing billions of euros into the renewable energy sector.   The Ingka Group headquarters is based in Leiden, the Netherlands.

The Netherlands is a top EU tax haven.

3) Erebus wind farm

Foreign owned: Yes

Links to tax havens: Yes

The Developers are 1) Total Energies with an 80% stake and 2) Simply Blue Energy with a 20% stake.

Total Energies

Total Energies is a multinational company operating in 120 countries with renewable energy as part of its portfolio with hq in Paris. On its website page headed Fighting Tax Evasion it states “Total Energies has developed a responsible tax approach based on clear principles of action and rigorous governance rules.”

Despite this claim, the Danish supreme court ruled against Maersk and Total Energies in a tax case 6-Sept-2023. In addition, Total Energies along with the Italian oil company ENI are also accused of avoiding up to $2 billion in withholding taxes in Mozambique – more than the country’s annual healthcare spending.   This is according to research by SOMO and CDD. They do this by routing their investments through ‘letterbox companies’ in the United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates is listed as no 17 in the tax haven index (just above the UK at no.18!).

Simply Blue

Simply Blue Group is headquartered in Cork, Ireland, and is a leading renewable energy developer.

Ireland is considered one of the top ten global tax havens

4) Valorous Wind Farm

Foreign owned: Yes

Links to tax havens: Yes

Along with Erebus Wind Farm, Valorous Wind Farm is part of Blue Gem Wind which in turn is a joint venture between Simply Blue Group and Total Energies (see above).

5) White cross floating wind farm

Foreign owned: Yes

Links to tax havens: Yes

White cross floating wind farm is co-owned by 1) Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios and 2) Flotation Energy, with their respective ownership stake of 50% each.

Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios is part of the Cobra group headquartered in Madrid.  There is no evidence of tax avoidance by this company.

Flotation Energy is part of TEPCO Renewables which in turn is part of TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings)  headquartered in Japan.

TEPCO was implicated in the Paradise Papers scandal in 2017

6) Wind farm projects Llyr 1 and Llyr 2

Foreign owned: Yes

Links to tax havens: Yes

These are being progressed by Floventis Energy Limited – a joint venture between SBM Offshore and Cierco Energy.

SBM Offshore is a Dutch multinational headquartered in the Netherlands, a tax haven.

Follow the money...

SBM Offshore was fined by a Swiss court for corruption practices relating to contracts in Angola, Equatorial Guinea, and Nigeria. In a separate case, one of their senior employees was also jailed in the UK for the same offence relating to oil contracts in Iraq.

Cierco Energy is a private company with headquarters in Aberdour, Scotland and Palm Springs, California.   There is no evidence of tax avoidance.

Other renewable energy companies

Bennamann

Bennamann is an innovative Cornish SME based in Newquay which produces bio-methane energy.   It was established in 2011 and has given a controlling stake to CNH Industrial, an Italian-American multinational corporation with global headquarters in Basildon, United Kingdom.

CNH Industrial is controlled and mostly owned by the multinational investment company Exor, which in turn is controlled by the Agnelli family.   The company is  listed on the New York Stock Exchange

In June 2020 TaxWatch cited CNH Industrial in a list of companies who had received government help despite being linked to tax havens, or had seen ‘controversy regarding their financial affairs.’

1. It is controlled and mostly owned by the multinational investment company Exor, which in turn is controlled by the Italian Agnelli family.

Exor had to pay 746 million euros ($845 million) to settle a tax dispute linked to the transfer of its legal headquarters to the Netherlands in 2016.

Netherlands is among the top ten tax havens in the world.

Solar Farm in Mid Cornwall

Approval was given for a massive solar farm in mid-Cornwall in 2023. This is owned by JBM Solar Projects 5 Limited which in turn is owned by RWE, a global energy company based in Germany.

RWE doesn't have to practice tax avoidance.   It simply tells the government what tax it will or won't pay.   In 2022 the head of RWE warned the UK government that it would reconsider £15bn of investment in the UK’s renewable energy sector if the country imposed a windfall tax on electricity generators - this at a time when the cost of living crisis resulting from high energy crisis was hurting millions of people.

If an elected government has to bend the knee to large multinational corporations, what hope do local councils have? And what are the implications for our democracy?

The dismay and anger that so many people felt about the proposed solar farm might have been ameliorated had communities been given an ownership stake in the project. In Germany cooperatives are the most frequent organisational form of renewable energy communities in Germany (around 55%) and produce 3.5% of the renewable energy of the country.

Lithium Mining

Cornish Lithium

Foreign owned: No - headquarters in Cornwall

Links to tax havens: Yes

Cornish Lithium: While its headquarters are in Cornwall, significant funding comes from outside the UK.   The $67m (£53.6m) of investment secured in 2023 was led by the UK Infrastructure Bank in partnership with Energy & Minerals Group (EMG), a US private investment firm. Each is putting in £24 million.

In addition TechMet, Cornish Lithium’s largest shareholder, is investing a further £5.6 million bringing its total investment in the business to £30m. TechMet is a Dublin-based company.

As previously stated Ireland is one of the top ten global tax havens.

Cornish Metals

Foreign owned: Yes

Links to tax havens: Yes.

Cornish Lithium has entered into an Exploration and Option Deed (the “Deed”) with Cornish Metals.   Cornish Metals is a Canadian mineral exploration company with headquarters in Vancouver.

The “Deed” gives Cornish Lithium the right to “explore for and potentially develop lithium in hot spring brines and associated geothermal energy on all Mineral Rights held by Cornish Metals through its subsidiary, Cornish Minerals Limited (Bermuda), in Cornwall, UK”.    According to Tax Justice Network, Bermuda is ranked No.3 as a tax haven (No.1 is worst)    Cornish Metals biggest investor is Vision Blue Resources   Vision Blue currently holds 26% of Cornish Metals CEO and Director of Cornish Metals, Don Turvey, commented that “this funding signals Vision Blue’s continued support for Cornish metals and plans to bring tin mining back to Cornwall through the restart of South Crofty.”

Vision Blue Resources was founded by the controversial businessman and politician Sir Mick Davis, is headquartered in Guernsey which is a tax haven ranked as no. 13 by Tax Justice Network

British Lithium

Foreign owned: No - headquarters in Cornwall

Links to tax havens: Yes

Like Cornish Lithium British Lithium is a private company. While its headquarters are in Roche, Cornwall, an 80% stake is held by Imerys, a French multinational which it acquired in June 2023.

In turn, Imerys largest shareholder is Group Bruxelles Lambert, a holding company whose unsavoury track record in corruption scandals, environmental crimes and generous dividend pay-outs has been highlighted by the Multinationals Observatory.

According to the Multinationals Observatory, it has also practised tax avoidance by “stockpiling companies located in Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, which has the dual benefit of reducing their tax bill and enabling them to increase their investment capacity by making the capital of these companies available to minority shareholders while they retain control.”

Posted By theboss on 17 March 2025

By Graham Smith