In a first-of-its-kind pilot in the UK, the Development Bank of Wales is launching a new scheme, Perseus, aimed at helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) automate their energy usage and carbon emissions reporting.
The objective is to guide these businesses in reducing their environmental impact and applying for green financing that supports environmentally sustainable actions.
In the UK, SMEs account for up to 50% of the UK’s business-related carbon emissions, and a majority of them fail to track and reduce their emissions owing to a lack of knowledge, time, as well as funding constraints.
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This is where Perseus comes into play, simplifying the process and helping SMEs share their energy data with carbon accounting providers and banks. Also, the data will be safe and cannot be shared with anybody else until SMEs give permission to do so.
Perseus provides small businesses with automated tools for carbon reporting and planning, which, in turn, helps them meet the requirements set by banks and lenders and access green loans much easier at better interest rates.
The scheme is led by the non-profit Icebreaker One, with support from institutions such as NatWest, Barclays, the British Business Bank, and the Institute of Directors.
Matthew Kelly, Sustainability Manager, Development Bank of Wales, said: “This is a first-of-its-kind pilot, using technology to drive down the business burden of reporting for SMEs and increase the accuracy of carbon abatement assessment and monitoring.
“We believe that Perseus will help scale green finance by giving us access to assurable, trustworthy data. It means that SMEs will get the capital that they need to boost their productivity while decarbonising, therefore helping us to get to net zero faster.”
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To learn more about the Perseus scheme, visit Icebreaker One’s official website.
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Source: Development Bank of Wales
