Environment technology

£22.8m government SME funding to accelerate green innovations

The government has today announced £22.8m worth of funding to provide small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) with support services to accelerate their green innovations.

A consortium of expert organisations, led by the Carbon Trust, will ensure SMEs funded through the government’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio receive the best business development advice for their innovative technology.

The government said this will enable companies to make the most of funding provided to them by the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, enabling them to commercialise at speed and scale.

In addition, technical support will be provided to critical Net Zero Innovation Portfolio projects through the Technical Third Party Support (TTPS) project.

This will contribute to the development of new energy technologies, systems and processes, helping the government to decrease the cost of decarbonisation and stimulate private sector investment.

The TTPS project will consist of five contracts to provide a breadth of technical expertise, with services provided by:

  • AECOM (energy consumption)
  • Frazer-Nash Consultancy (energy generation and distribution)
  • Mott MacDonald (carbon control and storage)
  • Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP (technical coordination)
  • Technopolis (social research and evaluation)

Also, it has been announced that £116m in new government funding will boost green innovation across the UK as efforts to help businesses reduce their carbon emissions continue.

Announced today, funding will see projects across the country develop new technologies that increase energy efficiency in homes and buildings, reduce carbon emissions, boost the UK’s energy security and provide cleaner ways to generate power and heat.

The investment will see the projects play a key part in the UK’s green industrial revolution, putting British business at the forefront of green innovation, helping to generate green jobs and kickstart millions of pounds of private sector investment.

From today, businesses developing technologies new to the UK are able to bid for a share of £64m in government funding to support projects that will capture carbon emissions and remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere through the Direct Air Capture and Greenhouse Gas Removal programme.

This government funding will support companies across the UK to put cutting-edge technology in operation, which will stimulate further investment from the private sector and help develop UK expertise in this area.

Projects supported under the first phase of the programme include a range of innovative green technologies, such as using absorbents that can capture CO2 directly from the air (direct air capture) and capturing the CO2 stored in natural material, such as waste wood through combustion to produce energy (bioenergy with carbon capture).

Through this new funding under the second phase, these projects will be developed from the design stage into demonstration projects, which could scale up to be commercial projects by 2025.

Commenting, Energy and Climate Change Minister, Greg Hands said:

“This £116m government investment will support businesses across the nation to turn their green ideas into reality and to develop ground-breaking projects that save energy, slash utility bills and tackle pollution.

“British businesses and entrepreneurs are already leading the world with innovative solutions to tackling climate change. This is not only good for the planet but will bring new jobs and investment across the UK.”

In addition, the government is supporting energy entrepreneurs across the UK with £30m in funding to develop a wide range of new decarbonisation and energy saving technologies.

Under the latest round of funding from the government’s Energy Entrepreneurs Fund, 58 SMEs will receive grants to develop and demonstrate new technologies across the areas of energy efficiency, power generation, heat generation and energy storage.

The government previously announced £11m would be made available for this phase of the fund, but due to the large number of exceptional high-quality applications that were made, the government is offering an additional £19m, bringing the total funding for this round to £30m.

According to the government, this demonstrates their desire to support new ideas and encourage entrepreneurial spirit, particularly from small businesses, to cement the UK as a world leader for green innovation.

PSE hosted a Cyber Security, Fraud & Human Error in association with Check Point Software Technologies Virtual Festival on 2 December. Catch up On Demand here.

PSE Mag

PSE February/ March 2024

Digital Infrastructure - the key to shaping the future of our rural communities

Dive into our latest edition for February/March!

 

Videos...

View all videos
Online Conference

Presenting

2024 Online Conferences

In partnership with our community of public sector leaders responsible for procurement and strategy across local authorities and the wider public sector, we’ve devised a collaborative calendar of conferences and events for leaders of industry to listen, learn and collaborate through engaging and immersive conversation.

All our conferences are CPD accredited, which means you can gain points to advance your career by attending our online conferences. Also, the contents are available on demand so you can re-watch at your convenience.

Public Sector Executive Podcast

Ep 51. Diversity, equality and representation with Stuart Love, Chief Executive of Westminster City Council

It is the role of local government leaders to make the decisions that will best deliver for the communities that they represent. That much is obvious.
 

How can they do this, however, if they are not accurately representative of those very communities?
 

Great strides have been made in ensuring that everyone, regardless of their ethnicity, race, gender, or social class is represented in some way within local government. Chief Executive of Westminster City Council Stuart Love joins host Dan Benn to talk about why this work is important, the different work that is being done in Westminster, and how his background influences his stance on equality and diversity.

More articles...

View all