Map shows businesses in Northern Ireland could make £224 million in carbon-related cost savings

The map, which has been put together by the Carbon Trust, shows the greatest savings are achievable by businesses in Greater London and the South East – £276.8 million and £275.3 million, respectively. However, it highlights other parts of the UK, such as Northern Ireland, where considerable savings are also possible.

The Carbon Trust said the map was based on the latest national data from the Building Research Establishment (BRE), Future Energy Solutions (now AEA) and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. It said businesses could achieve the savings through cost effective carbon reduction measures, such as replacing old boilers or installing new lighting.

“The cost savings per area vary depending on industry and business make up and the goal has been to work out potential savings to give each region an indicative picture of the opportunity available," said Hugh Jones, head of solutions for the Carbon Trust. “The map is based on the latest national information data-sets to ensure a consistent picture across the UK.

"The point of this exercise is to send a clear message out to all businesses across the UK that taking steps to reduce their carbon emissions can impact their bottom line.”

To this end, the Carbon Trust and and the Government, today, called on UK business to take advantage of the £100 million in new funding available to help companies become more energy efficient, announced in last month’s Budget. In England, the Carbon Trust offers interest-free loans for companies to buy new equipment and any firm with fewer than 250 staff or a turnover of less than £40 million can access them. With the new Government funding, those loans will now be expanded three fold, the Carbon Trust said.

“The additional funding for the Carbon Trust loans scheme means many more companies can take advantage of reducing costs by up to 20 per cent, whilst also helping to reduce carbon emissions,” said Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust.  “Our new map analysis shows the massive opportunity businesses have to reduce their costs by reducing their environmental impact. We urge UK businesses to prioritise action on carbon reduction and to contact the Carbon Trust to find out more about the free loans and other support available to help.”

Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, said taking advantage of the loans was important if British businesses were to lead the way in the low carbon sector. “Interest free loans totalling £100 million over the next two years were announced in the Budget, and this real help, delivered by the Carbon Trust in England, means that businesses in every corner of Britain can now improve their energy efficiency and make real savings on their energy bills at a time when every penny counts,” he said.

The appetite for cutting costs through energy efficiencies certainly appears to be a priority among UK businesses. In its annual report tracking business opinion on energy use and carbon emissions, published this week, utility company npower found that 80 per cent of businesses said they are likely to increase energy efficiency measures this year. However, npower’s Business Energy Index also found that businesses were unimpressed by the level of support they were getting from Government on this issue, with 51 per cent saying they thought it did not offer useful advice on the issues of carbon reduction and energy efficiency. More concerning for the Government, perhaps, was the finding that only 31 per cent of business believed opportunities would occur as result of reducing emissions – down from 47 per cent last year.

“The Government has set the UK on a path toward a low carbon economy and must now continue to stress to businesses the opportunities that will come from low carbon operations,” said Julia Lynch-Williams, director of energy services at npower, on the release of the report.

The Carbon Trust map reveals that other UK nations and regions with the biggest potential for savings are North West (£272.3 million), Scotland (£239.6 million) and Yorkshire and the Humber (£227.4 million). It shows considerable savings are also achievable in the East of England (£194.9 million) West Midlands (£189.9 million), East Midlands (£169.4 million), North East (£124.6 million), South West (£169.2 million) and Wales (£147.3 million).

The Carbon Trust has released its carbon and cost savings map as part of its ‘One Million A Day’ campaign, launched earlier this year,  which aims to save the UK economy £1 billion over the next three years and reduce the UK’s carbon emissions by at least 17 million tonnes of CO2 by getting businesses to prioritise carbon reduction measures.