Small businesses in the East of England are to benefit from £3 million of European funding to help them go ‘low carbon’.

The first two projects to receive support from the East of England’s £88 million European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) are a major boost for the region’s low-carbon high growth economy. The money released for these first successful projects will help businesses cut their energy bills and CO₂ emissions and match companies up with the right universities to develop low-carbon projects. The region’s ERDF programme, which has a nationally unique focus on low-carbon economic growth, will also help to drive EU-wide energy reduction targets and the government’s recently published Renewable Energy Strategy.

£2.1 million is going to the Resource Efficiency East (REE) scheme, which will help small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) become both more resource efficient and at the same time more competitive. REE will help businesses to cut their energy bill and carbon emissions and other resources over the next three years giving firms a sharper competitiveness edge.

A further £628,000 will go towards setting up a project to improve the links between academic expertise and innovation in universities across the East of England and regional businesses looking to develop commercially important low carbon technologies and products. This project will include a brand new ‘taster scheme’ to encourage SMEs to engage with academic hubs in higher education institutions for ground-breaking work on low-carbon issues.

Tony Wright, MP for Great Yarmouth, said: “These first two schemes will have massive benefits for local businesses not only in helping them identify ways to reduce their energy costs, but in helping them to access the latest technologies.

The Government’s Renewable Energy Strategy is dealing directly with the challenges we face, and these localised schemes will ensure local businesses have the help and support they need to compete and adapt to an increasingly low carbon environment. I look forward to seeing what I expect will be very positive results”.   

The new European funding is aligned with the government’s recently published plans to move the UK towards a low carbon economy. The renewable energy strategy recognises that meeting EU targets will require a tenfold increase in the proportion of electricity derived from renewable sources and that this requires a rapid response along supply chains to ensure the timely delivery of the required technology. Regional development agencies will be working with their public and private sector regional partners to breakdown traditional barriers to efficient and effective supply. EEDA has welcomed the renewable energy strategy and the new commitments it places on EEDA to help the East of England meet its renewable energy targets.