Member Article

Finance offered for businesses to go green

Some four-hundred thousand businesses throughout England would struggle to raise standard bank loans for energy efficient investments.

New analysis from the Energy Efficiency Financing Scheme shows likely difficulties for businesses wanting to raise bank loans for green investments.

Myles McCarthy, managing director at Carbon Trust Implementation Services, commented: “Our analysis shows that there is a huge market potential for energy-efficient equipment investment over the next three years, amounting to almost £9bn across the country (e.g. £768m in London, £798m in North East, £580m in South West).

“The large number of inquiries in the Energy Efficiency Financing Scheme in the first few months confirms the significant appetite from business for investment in this area.”

Energy Efficiency Financing is a scheme delivered by the Carbon Trust and its partner Siemens Financial Services, designed to cater for organisations of all sizes.

Mr McCarthy continued: “In the current credit squeeze, however, a major problem for firms has been access to affordable finance to enable business to make those green investments.

“That is why we have put in place a major new financing facility that makes finance more accessible and affordable for companies.

“The new facility, with finance provided by Siemens, matches monthly payments to real monthly energy cost savings, which means that in many cases firms are cash neutral or cash positive from day one.

“These investments allow organisations to gain access to new equipment that is more productive, reduces waste and lowers energy costs.”

Siemens’ financing expertise is used to identify businesses that would struggle to raise an affordable bank loan because of their credit profile.

Subsequently, the scheme offers these businesses the opportunity to apply for green growth finance, designed to match monthly payments with the equivalent savings from lower energy consumption.

The scheme covers such technologies as low energy lighting, energy-efficient motors, energy efficient air conditioning, energy efficient motors and biomass heating.

Siemens Financial Services in the UK provide the financial backing and management of the funding.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .