The government is to give £27.5 million from the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund to support businesses with high energy use to reduce their bills and carbon emissions.
It’s part of a new scheme costing half a billion pounds to reduce energy bills and carbon emissions within which schools, pools, and hospitals will be supported to make energy efficient upgrades, with over £557 million government investment.
Heat pumps, solar panels, insulation and low-energy lighting will be rolled out to reduce the use of fossil fuels across the public sector and strengthen the UK’s energy independence, helping save taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds.
This follows significant progress already made towards reaching net zero – with the UK becoming the first major economy to halve emissions. Decarbonising the public sector is expected to save an estimated £650 million per year on average to 2037.
Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance Lord Callanan said: “From school corridors to the businesses that power up our economy, we want to make sure buildings of all shapes and sizes are supported to deliver net zero.
“By allocating over £557 million today, we are standing steadfast behind our public sector and local businesses, providing the help they need to make the switch to cleaner, homegrown energy.
“This will not only help cut bills in the long term, but ensure we keep reducing our emissions – having already led the world by halving them since 1990.”
More than 1,000 projects have now received funding since 2020 to upgrade thousands of buildings through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
Salix Chief Executive Emma Clancy said: “The climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges of our time. It requires all of us, including governments and businesses, to make change and reduce our carbon footprint.
“The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme enables the public sector to tap into a fund which can transform our public buildings. These are the sites we use every day; our schools, universities, leisure centres and others will become more energy efficient as well as being comfortable places to use thanks to this funding.
“Every day our teams at Salix work with the public sector to achieve ambitious net zero goals and we’re looking forward to working with the latest successful Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme grant recipients.”
