Supporting Suffolk businesses to cut their carbon emissions
Low Carbon Champions is a project to support businesses in Suffolk in driving down their use of carbon, increasing their resource efficiency and saving energy - material, time and effort. The project will support 75 businesses in total.
Each company that joins the project will receive:
- A carbon audit with a resource efficiency action plan
- 30 hours of mentoring for your nominated 'Low Carbon Champion(s)', providing them with the tools, skills and support to improve the resource efficiency and reduce your carbon footprint
- A grant of up to £5,000 for the improvement of the company's equipment or buildings
- The chance to gain a recognised award for carbon management
What is a Low Carbon Champion?
A Low Carbon Champion is an employee who takes on, as part of their role, the responsibility of making efficient use of energy, materials and resources within the business through changing the work practices and behaviour of fellow employees.
Champions can help you achieve a number of business critical and environmental 'wins', from driving down costs, increasing efficiency and productivity, meeting your environmental commitments and maximising your Corporate Social Responsibility agenda.
Mentoring
Each champion will be given three days of training and at least 8 hours of individual advice to help her/him achieve his goals. The support will focus on the following areas:
Stage 1: Understanding energy and material use within the business
- Introduction - the place of energy and material use in providing products and services to the customer
- Collecting and interpreting data on consumption and waste
- Calculating the organisation's Carbon Footprint
Stage 2: Presenting findings and designing solutions
- Investigating sources of energy reduction and resource efficiency
- Assessing potential courses of action
- Presenting findings to senior management and gaining agreement
Stage 3: Running Resource Efficiency Projects
- Planning energy saving and efficiency projects that show the greatest value return
- Setting out a programme of change - objectives, measures, targets and actions
- Engaging with employees and influencing change
Stage 4: Evaluating Projects and Running Second Stage initiatives
- Evaluating projects and presenting results
- Running next phase projects to further reduce consumption and minimise waste
Grants
SMEs participating in the project will be eligible for a grant of up to £5,000 that will pay for 50% of the total cost of a carbon reduction project. A minimum of 10 grants between £500 and £5,000 will be provided.
Applications will be judged on the basis of the SME's commitment to improving their environmental performance and how big an impact their proposed project will have in terms of CO2 reduction. As a minimum, the applicant will have had an audit carried out either directly through the Low Carbon Champions project or through the Suffolk Climate Change Partnership and had at least 16 hours of mentoring support.
Answer Carbon Charter
The Answer Carbon Charter has been developed by the Environment Agency, Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Chamber of Commerce and it provides businesses with a well recognised local brand in return for taking steps to reduce their energy consumption. Following an independent audit, successful companies will receive the Charter for a period of one year at one of three levels (bronze, silver, gold) depending on their achievement and commitment. The involvement in the Low Carbon Champions project increases the chance of successful certification for the businesses. To learn more about the charter, visit: http://www.greensuffolk.org/charter
Eligibility
Only SMEs (small and medium enterprises) in Suffolk are eligible for free support and grants through Low Carbon Champions. SMEs are defined broadly as:
- Employing no more than 250 people
- Annual turnover not exceeding €50m
- Annual balance sheet not exceeding €43m
- Limited company or Social Enterprise
- Must not be more than 25% owned by one or more companies not falling within this definition, (except public investment corporations, venture capital companies or - provided no control is exercised - institutional investors).
- Must not have ownership of other organisations/companies in excess of permitted levels allowable under the EU definition of an SME.
How to join
To find out more and to register for the project, please contact lenka@greenlighttrust.org or call 01284 830829
Low Carbon Champions is a three year partnership project between Suffolk County Council, Green Light Trust, Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, Suffolk Climate Change Partnership and Choose Suffolk. It is part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and Suffolk County Council.