The government has announced an additional £2 million in funding via the ‘Made Smarter Adoption Programme’ specifically to help small businesses become more energy efficient through investment in technology in areas like heating, insulation and solar power.
This forms part of the government’s response to the Willow Review Report, which found that 67 per cent of SMEs who adopted sustainable practices, like installing solar panels or selling energy back to the grid, reported reduced operational costs.
The Willow Review report, published earlier this year, is an independent government-backed report spearheaded by Small Business Britain and supported by Barclays. It aims to unlock the economic opportunity of sustainability for the UK’s 5.7 million small and medium sized businesses.
“Investing in sustainability is good for growth, cutting costs, and saving SMEs money to spend on growing their business,” Blair McDougall, minister for small business, said.
“That is why, as part of our Plan for Small Business, we are supporting SMEs through measures including brand new funding and an improved support offer via the Business Growth Service.”
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The government’s response is part of wider work to support small businesses to transition to net zero and to save them costs.
This includes schemes like the Zero Carbon Services Hospitality trial, which is giving 600 small hospitality businesses free energy usage and assessments of how to reduce their emissions and bills, as well as the mass roll out of smart meters to small businesses across the country.
“We are delighted to see such a positive and practical response to the Willow Review. This is a strong step towards helping SMEs turn sustainability into new opportunities and better growth, benefitting not only the businesses, but also the wider economy,” Michelle Ovens, CEO and founder of Small Business Britain, said.
“We look forward to continuing working with the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to ensure small businesses can fully make the most of the opportunities that sustainability brings.”
Abdul Qureshi, head of business banking at Barclays, added: “We are pleased to see this support being made available to help more small businesses build resiliency, reduce costs, and unlock growth opportunities from the transition to a low-carbon economy.
“Both the public and private sector have important roles to play in achieving this, and as a leading lender to UK SMEs, we are focused on fulfilling that role through initiatives such as our Green Loans for Business and our recently announced joint partnership with Sustainable Ventures to support UK climate innovators through The National Climate Tech Accelerator.”