Carbon Trust calls for energy efficiency partnerships - 17 May 2011 - News from BusinessGreen

Body looks to expand advisory capabilities and leverage private capital following successful deal with Siemens

By Will Nichols


The Carbon Trust has given an insight into its future operations by calling for partners to extend the reach of its energy efficiency and low carbon advisory role.

The Trust stated in an advert in today's Financial Times that it is looking to build on its work helping companies reduce their carbon impact, and asked for organisations to submit expressions of interest to "be considered for commercial partnerships or to enter into alliances or arrangements with the Carbon Trust or one of its subsidiaries".

he Trust has always been involved in attracting private capital into the sector, but has stepped up its efforts of late. The organisation will provide the expertise for a £550m green financing initiative launched earlier this year with Siemens to help companies cover the upfront costs of installing energy efficiency measures.

Last year's Comprehensive Spending Review promised 40 per cent cuts to the Carbon Trust's budget from this financial year, and it was thought that the organisation would step up its private sector work to cover the shortfall.

However, Claire Hierons, head of business development for the Carbon Trust's delivery programmes, told BusinessGreen that today's call was about providing a wider range of advisory services.

"Budgetary cuts mean you can do fewer things, but it's possible that perpetuating the partnerships means we can do more," she said.

Hierons added that the Carbon Trust was looking to follow on from the Siemens deal with a partnership on a similar scale, potentially as early as this year.

"The Siemens deal gave us an opportunity to say: 'Look, this works.' We want to build on that success," she said. "It would be nice to be working on [the energy efficiency partnership] over this financial year - the agenda's moving so quickly."

Hierons explained that businesses are increasingly in need of advice with the advent of the Green Deal over the next year and a renewed focus on lowering operating costs after the economic downturn.

"What we've seen is maybe 'climate change' starts being called 'energy efficiency' and 'saving carbon' starts being called 'saving money'. What you need to do is pretty much the same whether you're saving carbon or money," she said.