In 2018, Derbyshire households and businesses produced 10.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases from transport, gas and electricity use in homes and other emissions from business and industry.
We've pledged that by 2050 the county will be carbon net zero. To achieve this, a lot of work needs to be done to bring emissions down.
Green Entrepreneurs Fund was launched because we recognised that to reduce the emissions of businesses, support was needed to encourage them to be able to undertake the work needed to make the necessary changes to their business practices, and to take the risks to develop new products and services that are low carbon and innovative to help the wider Derbyshire economy to also grow, whilst helping to move to a greener future.
There was also a gap in the skill set of the Derbyshire workforce, in the fast-moving world of low carbon and green technologies, that needed to be plugged.
The Green Entrepreneurs Fund provided £1.8 million of funding to businesses and individuals through 3 schemes:
- Demonstrator Scheme - grants of up to £200,00 to innovative and game-changing low carbon projects that have the potential to have a large-scale impact and be used to inspire others to make change
- Small Grants Scheme - grants of up to £20,000 to projects that aim to introduce new low carbon practices, products and services to a business. Since December 2022, this included de-carbonisation projects
- Scholarship Scheme - grants of up to £1,500 to individuals looking to train in low carbon skills
Since its launch, Green Entrepreneurs Fund has had a massive impact, both on the county's net zero targets and the local economy. This includes (not an exhaustive list):
- over 70 SMEs supported across Derbyshire
- 1,610 tonnes of CO2e forecast reduction
- 16 new jobs created so far
A video has been created which highlights some of the businesses and their fantastic projects.
Now that the original programme is closed, we recognise that the need for intervention is still there. So we're working closely with our partners to develop and fund a new programme. We'll provide more information when we can.
You can register your interest with Green Entrepreneurs Fund.