Carbon Trust expands access to £100 million in loans

The Carbon Trust is improving access to more than £100 million in interest-free and unsecured loans for small and medium-sized businesses.

The move is aimed at helping more businesses survive the recession by cutting both their energy costs and their carbon footprints.

Thousands of small businesses have already slashed their annual energy bills, some by as much as 75 per cent by installing new energy-saving equipment paid for by Government-funded Carbon Trust loans, according to the organisation.

Now the Carbon Trust has extended eligibility for the recently-expanded loan fund. The minimum loan amount has been lowered to just £3,000, putting the loans within reach of micro-businesses; the upper limit has been doubled from £200,000 to £400,000 to meet the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with high energy spends, such as manufacturing companies.

The Carbon Trust expects to deliver more than £100 million in loan funding to UK SMEs over the next two years, including almost £84 million in England allocated by the Government as part of Budget 2009.

In most cases, businesses taking a Carbon Trust loan to update their equipment find the savings they make on energy bills exceed the cost of the loan repayments. This means they benefit from brand new equipment, increased efficiency and reduced running costs, all at no expense to themselves. They also help to drive the UK’s move to a low-carbon economy.

“Small and medium businesses are the backbone of the UK economy and key to the move to the low-carbon world,” said Tom Delay, CEO of the Carbon Trust. “We are extending a helping hand to them by offering more than £100 million in interest-free, unsecured loans at a time when bank funding is hard to come by. Our 0 per cent loan offer is as close to free money as a business can get, and is flexible enough to help almost any small or medium business, from the corner fish and chip shop to a factory.”

“Climate change is one of the biggest threats to our planet so it’s vital that everyone plays their part,” said Department of Energy and Climate Change Minister Lord Hunt. “Taking action offers a huge opportunity for businesses to save money on their energy bills as well as reducing emissions and driving the move to a low-carbon economy.”