The business decarbonisation loan is available to small and medium enterprises (SME) and charities located in participating Boroughs of Woking, Guildford, Waverley, Reigate and Banstead, Spelthorne and Surrey Heath.
The first stage to apply for a business decarbonisation loan is for your business to have a business decarbonisation assessment.
The business decarbonisation loan is part funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and via the Boroughs of Woking, Guildford, Waverley, Reigate and Banstead, Spelthorne and Surrey Heath. This programme follows the success of the recent Low Carbon Across The South & East (LoCASE) programme.
Up to £15,000 business decarbonisation loan
The business decarbonisation loan programme has been created to help business and organisations decarbonise, invest to cut their energy bills, improve their premises and business practices to be more efficient.
- Loans from £5,000 to £15,000
- Up to 50% of your decarbonisation project's costs
- Repayments over up to 3 years
- No fees
- Fixed interest rate 8% per year
The business decarbonisation loan is up to 50% and up to £15,000 of your decarbonisation project's costs so you will need to match fund the rest of project's costs.
The loan is specifically for decarbonisation projects, we will conduct a visit to validate the project's completion.
Book your assessment now to see what decarbonisation projects could be eligible for a business decarbonisation loan.
Register for your free business decarbonisation assessment
Helping you determine your decarbonisation project – business decarbonisation assessment
To help you identify potential decarbonisation projects within your business, the first step is to have a free business decarbonisation assessment.
This will take the form of a 45 minutes to an hour call. We do a virtual walk around your premises to better understand energy use, limitations, opportunities, as well as getting an overview of your purchases, supply chain and transport usage.
You will then be issued with a personalised report and a list of potential decarbonisation projects for your consideration along with useful links. This should hopefully help inform your decarbonisation journey and help you decide on your future decarbonisation projects.
There is no obligation to progress any of the potential projects to a business decarbonisation loan application.
Register for your free business decarbonisation assessment
Who is eligible to apply for a decarbonisation loan and free business decarbonisation assessment?
If you answer yes to all 5 you should be eligible.
- Is your trading address in one of the participating Boroughs of Woking, Guildford, Waverley, Reigate and Banstead, Spelthorne and Surrey Heath?
- Has your business or charity been trading for at least 2 years in the UK?
- Is your turnover less than £44million?
- Do you have less than 250 employees?
- Have you received less than £315,000 in subsidies over the last 3 years?
Eligible projects
The types of eligible decarbonisation projects, you may wish to investigate and get costed are listed below. This is not an exhaustive list.
Lighting
- switching to LED - fast payback on energy costs savings, reduce heat produced, reduce cooling costs, improved comfort
- PIR (passive infrared sensors) controls
Measures to improve thermal efficiency – avoid energy loss
- Insulation – internal and external; roof, wall, ceiling, floor
- Glazing (double or triple)
- Doors & shutters
- Swimming pool covers (for heated pools)
Switch to low carbon heating
- Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP)
- Heating, Ventilation, Air conditioning systems (HVAC)
- Infrared radiators
- Solar thermal
- Zone controls
Low carbon energy generation
- Solar panel
- Battery
- Wind turbine
Equipment - upgrade to more efficient models
- Fridges / freezers with doors / covers
- Upgrade of equipment to high / A* rating
- Upgrade from gas to electric ovens
- Upgrade of diesel generator to electric battery
IT
- Laptop to replace computer
- Cloud migration to replace servers
Transport
- Electric vehicles
- Electric vehicle charging points
Working from home
If you work from home , the scheme cannot consider improvements to your home but we can consider projects which demonstrate carbon saving on equipment (upgrades for more efficient models) and electric vehicle and e-bikes.
Register for your free business decarbonisation assessment
No cost to low cost projects you may consider in the meantime
There are some projects which are not eligible on the scheme by themselves but would have an impact on your carbon footprint and for some a positive impact on your energy cost savings.
Some of these are:
Finance
- Switching your work pension to a green provider
- Switching to a greener bank
Energy
- Switching to a green tariff or greener energy provider
- Getting maintenance and servicing done to ensure your current boiler and appliances are working at their most efficient level
- Installing smart controls which turn power/lights off
- Turning your thermostat down by a couple of degrees on your heating , or your fridge or freezer up by a couple of degrees
- Programming your heating to come on just before you get in and stop before you leave so you still benefit from the residual heat but you save on some heating costs for your premises
- Draught proofing
- Mitigate solar gain - Blinds, curtains, window films, awnings, sail
Why should you decarbonise your business?
There are many reasons why you should look to decarbonise your business, here's just a few:
- to save on energy costs,
- to improve your premises and add real estate value
- to be more resilient for example to peaks in temperatures which impact productivity,
- to get a better Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating for your building
- to attract and retain talent,
- to have happy employees with improved wellbeing from better working conditions
- to future proof your business, as more organisations request information on environmental, social and governance
- to lower your emissions and your carbon footprint
- to have less of a negative impact on the environment, work closer to within the available resources and have more of a positive impact on people and planet
- and because it's the right thing to do
About Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for commercial buildings
You might be aware that the legal requirements for EPC on rented or leased non-domestic properties changed from April 2023 and that the Government has been consulting on new legislation and frameworks. You can find out more on EPC for commercial buildings on our About Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) page.
Other business decarbonisation support - free decarbonisation course and carbon calculator
The business decarbonisation course is free to SMEs in the participating Boroughs. It is available in person at seven venues across the Boroughs of Woking, Guildford, Waverley, Reigate and Banstead, Spelthorne and Surrey Heath, or soon online, on-demand as six self-paced modules.
It has been designed to help you calculate your carbon footprint, drive down their emissions, understand how climate change can affect your business and how to build resilience and aim for Net Zero.
Course participants will also get a free one-year licence to Climate Essentials carbon calculator tool and the Climate Essentials supporting services (peer to peer community, webinars, resources).
Free business decarbonisation course and carbon calculator
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