UK Carbon Trust and Siemens launch £550M green finance deal

The UK’s Carbon Trust and Siemens have formed a partnership to provide UK companies with access to finance for the purchase and lease of low carbon equipment worth up to £550 million over the next three years.

The partners claim this it the first such dedicated low carbon finance scheme and will enable UK companies to invest in cost-effective and energy efficient equipment or other low carbon technologies, such as lighting and biomass heating.

Any company will be able to apply for green growth finance from the scheme from 4 April 2011. Siemens Financial Services Ltd in the UK will provide the financial backing and manage the provision of funding, while the Carbon Trust will use its expertise in carbon saving from energy efficient technologies to assess the carbon, energy and cost savings of any application. This will enable the financing to pay for itself through energy savings.

Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, said access to finance is the “missing ingredient” to enable companies to make green investments. “This new major finance facility will improve business competitiveness, cut carbon and boost green growth.”

James Gearey, CEO of Siemens Financial Services Ltd, UK, said Siemens has been reporting the hundreds of millions of tonnes of carbon emission reductions that have been delivered through Siemens technology since 2002. “Siemens Financial Services has extensive experience of asset financing and lending to UK business and is particularly successful in the SME sector.  This background, combined with our ready access to funding, means we are well placed to support the scheme.”

The Carbon Trust and Siemens Financial Services have will also finance a new commercial venture that will aim to increase the take up of energy efficiency projects by offering procurement support to companies wishing to purchase energy efficiency equipment at scale from a network of accredited suppliers. The venture will be launched later this year.