SMEs in the Midlands and North have received more than £50 million of green investment from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund and Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, according to new figures.
The two investment bodies – regional funds of the British Business Bank – have been able to help small and medium sized companies reduce their carbon footprint and develop new technologies to help tackle climate change.
Since the two funds were launched management say they have helped 45 businesses in their plans to help the Ƶ meet its net-zero targets.
Both organisations are working with fund managers, councils, local enterprise partnerships, growth hubs and public and private sector bodies to deliver finance from the funds and private sector investors.
It comes after the Ƶ Government agreed a revised target of reducing national emissions by 78 per cent by 2035 – which will become law by the end of June.
The British Business Bank said several northern and Midlands’ areas and sub-regions have made commitments to reaching the targets much sooner.
The Midlands region aims to leads the way in the green growth and low carbon transition, notably by its current work in developing sustainable solutions, such as East Midlands Development Corporation, freeports and a focus on offshore wind and hydrogen, battery technologies, carbon-neutral transport, decarbonisation and zero-carbon growth.
The business bank said the West Midlands Combined Authority estimates that 21,000 new jobs could be created in the region over the next five years, or 92,000 by 2041.
It said increased demand for renewables and low carbon technologies could also enable the Midlands to tap into a larger pool of 1.7 million new green jobs – half of which are likely to be located in the Midlands, the North and Scotland.
Investment by the MEIF supporting the low-carbon agenda in the West Midlands has included a £250,000 funding package for Earth Rover.
The Shropshire start-up is using cutting-edge technologies to help farmers improve crop yields and reduce food waste.
In the East Midlands, the fund recently provided £130,000 to Lincolnshire-based Exuvi8 which specialises in designing and deploying energy-efficient data centres.
Patrick Magee, chief commercial officer at the British Business Bank, said: “Through the British Business Bank’s regional funds, we are actively supporting businesses that are contributing to the Ƶ’s low-carbon agenda.
“In the Midlands, finance from the MEIF is enabling businesses to create and commercialise new sustainable technologies, become more sustainable or energy efficient, while also helping wider industries to decarbonise.
“Our intention is to continue utilising both the MEIF and NPIF to help green and sustainable businesses grow in the Midlands and North.
“We recognise the potential of these businesses in not only helping the Ƶ hit net-zero, but creating new jobs and economic growth.”
Sir John Peace, chairman of the Midlands Engine, said: “SMEs make up 99.6 per cent of companies operating in the Midlands.
“The lifeblood of our economy, they will underpin our region’s recovery from the pandemic, allowing us to build back better, stronger and, crucially, greener.
“They must be enabled to thrive and to this end we’re trialling new models of sustainable finance, such as green bonds, to unlock green sector funding and support our businesses.
“The Midlands Engine is the first pan-regional partnership in the Ƶ to propose how stakeholders from right across our region will come together to deliver the Government’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution.
“Our own forthcoming ten point plan for green growth in the Midlands Engine will enable us to develop our post-Covid-19, post-EU-exit economy in a sustainable way that also addresses inequality and the levelling up agenda.
“It is how we will effectively accelerate our, and the Ƶ’s, path to net-zero.”
The Midlands Engine Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.
