UPDATED: Many entrepreneurs are looking to eco small business grants to help them fund environmental projects, adopt green technologies and become more sustainable.
Funding comes under the following categories and are often distributed by local authorities:
- Renewable energy business grants
- Sustainability grants
- Energy efficiency grants
- Sustainable innovation
- Green jobs
The green business grants below have been divided according to where they are in the UK and contain a link to the application page which will give you more information.
UK-wide
Amazon Sustainability Accelerator
For start-ups developing sustainability-focused products or recycling technologies that help to keep materials circulating. It’s a three-month equity-free programme supporting early stage start-ups that have a positive impact on the environment.
There are two separate tracks for two separate cohorts: one for sustainability focused products and one for recycling technologies.
The funding part of the package includes a £10,000 grant, £500 Sponsored Amazon Advertising Credits and US$25,000 AWS Activate Credits. You’ll also receive specialised mentorship and a tailored curriculum of workshops, bootcamps and expert speakers.
Apply here to sign up for the 2025 cohort.
Co-op Carbon Innovation Fund
The fund is currently in its round three phase.
Grants will be awarded £50,000 to £150,000 to initiatives which work to protect peatlands.
Workplace Charging Scheme
The Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) is a voucher-based scheme that provides eligible applicants with support towards the upfront costs of the purchase and installation of electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints.
It is available in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but not in the Channel Islands or Isle of Man.
The grant covers up to 75 per cent of the total costs of the purchase and installation of EV chargepoints (inclusive of VAT), capped at a maximum of:
- £350 per socket
- 40 sockets across all sites per applicant – for instance, if you would like to install them in 40 sites, you will have one socket available per site
After applying using the online application form, successful applicants are issued with a unique identification voucher code by email, which can then be given to any OZEV-authorised commercial chargepoint installer.
The Eco Providers UK – Heating and Insulation Grants
Grants are available for private and social landlords to support retrofit property improvements to reduce carbon emissions across housing stock.
The aim of this fund is to contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions from social and private housing via the provision of full retrofitting services or direct funding to help landlords reduce capital expenditure on eco-friendly housing improvements.
Eligible costs include:
- Stock overview to identify potential retrofit measures and current EPC rating
- Internal wall, Room in Roof and under floor insulation installation
- Central heating and electric storage heater installation
- EV charging station installation
England
Woodland Creation Planning Grant (WCPG)
Receive a maximum of £30,000 per project for creating a woodland.
Decarbonisation Net Zero Programme (West Midlands and Warwickshire)
The Decarbonisation Net Zero Programme (DNZ) in association with the Business Energy Advice Service (BEAS) supports businesses with fewer than 250 employees based in the West Midlands and Warwickshire who want to save money on energy, waste and water bills and maximise low carbon opportunities. Grants are available for between £1,000 and £100,00 to fund up to 50% of the cost of installing energy efficient measures, which also include free audits, workshops and technical support.
Net Zero Worcestershire
In affiliation with the Business Energy Advice Service (BEAS), Worcestershire County are offering fully funded decarbonisation and energy efficiency assessments with an expert energy advisor for eligible businesses. The review can help you discover areas to reduce your carbon footprint, and there is also an opportunity to apply for grant funding for up to 50% of costs associated with implementing projects.
Low Carbon Workspaces
Low Carbon Workspaces is supplying match-funded eco business grants between £1,000 and £6,750 for businesses to take on green initiatives like double glazing, LED lighting and smart heating. It’s open to SMEs in Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire.
Conservation grant scheme, Howardian Hills
There are now two grant schemes available under the Howardian Hills umbrella.
This one is a Yorkshire-based grant for community infrastructure projects and countryside conservation work in the Howardian Hills Area of Natural Beauty (AONB).
Assistance normally sits in the 30-75 per cent range but with this scheme you may be funded 100 per cent of your project.
The Farming in Protected Landscapes scheme supports farmers and land managers along with people who work and live in these areas. The scheme will run until March 2025. The support is for farmers and land managers who are carrying out projects to mitigate climate change, provide opportunities for people to discover, enjoy and understand the landscape and cultural heritage or support nature-friendly and sustainable farm shop businesses.
The programme will fund a portion of your costs – the amount will depend on how much the project will benefit your business. Your project must end by March 2025.
Nottingham City Council Business Decarbonisation Grant
The objective of this grant is to support retail businesses in eligible areas of Nottingham to reduce their energy related costs whilst also seeking to reduce the city’s carbon emissions.
The maximum grant per business is £5,000 and the minimum grant per business is £500. The grant will support up to 50% of the costs of installing carbon reduction measures.
Funding for Farmers, Growers and Land Managers
This is a page detailing several grants and funding opportunities for farmers and land managers.
Pig, beef and dairy farmers whose farming systems produce slurry are able to apply for a grant which will allow them to build new slurry stores, replace slurry stores and expand existing slurry stores. You can apply for a grant between £25,000 and £250,000 for six months of storage.
You can also apply for money to improve tree health and for grants from the Farming and Innovation Programme.
Click on the link above to find out more about this grant and others for farmers and land managers.
Green Port Hull
Green Port Hull aims to be the UK’s world class centre for renewable energy, particularly for the offshore wind industry
There is support on offer for companies wanting to grow or establish their business in the area, including.
- Finance for Growth
- ICT for Growth
- Business Growth Scheme
- Hull Business Energy Efficiency Scheme (grant funding of up to £10,000 available)
- Electric Vehicle Chargepoints (as part of the UK Workplace Charging Scheme)
Energy Efficient Projects for Greater Manchester SMEs
Green Economy is offering Energy Efficiency Grants of up to £5,000 (before VAT) towards energy efficiency improvements in your (Manchester-based) business.
The grants are available for a limited time on a first-come-first-served basis and can be used on projects including:
- Heating equipment upgrades, including heat pumps
- Replacement motors, drives, compressors
- Upgrading refrigeration equipment
- Process efficiency investments
Eco-I North West: Capital Grant Scheme
This grant helps businesses who are seeking to transition technologies that contribute to a lower carbon economy.
The project you propose must cost no less than £5,000 and no more than £24,999. It will be 50 per cent match-funded in Cheshire and Warrington, Greater Manchester and the Halton district of the Liverpool region. Grants are awarded on a 60 per cent match basis for businesses based in Lancashire, Cumbria and majority Liverpool region. Businesses will need to demonstrate that they can fund the remaining project costs.
Brum Breathes Capital Grant
This £10.05m grant scheme aims to help SMEs within the West Midlands region to meet European standards. You must have been trading for more than 12 months and own or lease heavy goods vehicles or light good vehicles that are not complaint with Clean Air Zone emission standards. You must also be able to demonstrate your use of clean air zones through your commercial operations.
The total grant package for each business is up to £180,000 – that’s up to £15,000 per heavy goods vehicle and up to 35 per cent of the maximum cost of an upgrade up at a maximum of £4,000 for each light goods vehicle.
Low Carbon Opportunities Programme
This programme offers free renewable energy/low carbon innovation assessments along with grants to SMEs in Worcestershire (and grants only to SMEs in Shropshire). SMEs will be encouraged and enabled to adopt lower carbon technologies – or the grant can help businesses in the clean innovation or those developing low carbon solutions alongside their normal business operations.
Some sectors such as primary agriculture and finance are not eligible.
Low Carbon SMEs Grants
Low Carbon SMEs helps businesses gain access to capital grants that will help them make green improvements to their operations. Eligibility is based on the ability to demonstrate sufficient energy savings. The maximum intervention rate is 50 per cent.
Low carbon investment initiatives include:
- Voltage Optimisation System – to assist the company in lowering its carbon footprint and energy costs.
- Power factor correction equipment
- Variable speed air compressor with integral air dryer
West Yorkshire Community Climate Grants
The scheme works through West Yorkshire’s five local authorities of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield, who will offer grants of up to £50,000 to fund climate friendly schemes.
The grants are open to Voluntary groups, Community groups, and Social enterprises. The main themes are: sustainable energy improvements in community buildings, clean energy generation projects, schemes that increase public transport use, walking, and cycling, and schemes that increase community access to green space and nature.
Boiler Upgrade Scheme
With this scheme, you can get a grant to cover part of the cost of replacing fossil fuel heating systems with a heat pump or biomass boiler.
You’re eligible if:
- Own the property you’re applying for (including if it’s a business, a second home or a property you rent out to tenants)
- Have installed your new heating system on or after April 1, 2022
- Be replacing fossil fuel heating systems (such as oil, gas or electric)
You’re still eligible if you’ve already had funding to make your property more energy efficient, for example by insulating it.
Green entrepreneurs fund, Derbyshire
This is a grant fund to help businesses, organisations communities and individuals interested in developing skills in the green economy and investing in green energy and carbon reduction schemes.
The green entrepreneurs fund, which is being run in collaboration with the University of Derby, is made up of three funding streams:
Green entrepreneurs small grant fund
Grants of between £6,000 to £20,000 are available for proposals for alternative energy, clean fuel and carbon reduction projects.
To be eligible, projects must have a minimum spend of £15,000 and there is a maximum intervention rate of 40 per cent. A total of £500,000 has been set aside for this fund.
Green entrepreneurs demonstrator grant fund
£1.2m has been earmarked for a small number of high-quality, larger scale carbon-cutting projects in Derbyshire. This fund is open to larger scale projects that are designed to encourage solutions beyond the mainstream of current thinking.
The maximum grant available through this fund is £200,000.
Green entrepreneurs scholarship fund
This fund will support individuals to retrain with skills to enable them to enter the field of low carbon, green energy. Individuals can access up to £1,500 for training costs. £100,000 has been set aside for this fund.
The scholarship grants will allow individuals to study around their existing responsibilities. It will enable them to obtain the skills and qualifications they need to change their career or progress in employment. The study can take place either online or face to face or a combination of both.
Applicants are encouraged to contact the careers service and discuss their plans before applying for a green entrepreneur programme scholarship grant.
Workplace Travel Service Nottingham: Grants
Benefit from up to £25,000 financial support to help meet the costs of workplace travel improvements such as electric vehicle charge points, cycle parking, showers, pool bikes, car sharing and car parking management.
You’re eligible if your business is inside the Nottingham City boundary. Take a look on the webpage for what the grant will and won’t support.
Green Heat Network Fund
The Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) is a three-year £288m capital grant fund that will support:
- The commercialisation and construction of new low and zero carbon (LZC) heat networks (including the supply of cooling)
- The retrofitting and expansion of existing heat networks
There will be a series of quarterly application rounds until the scheme closes in 2025. Individuals, households and sole traders cannot apply.
Scotland
NESTRANS Community Sustainable Travel Grant Scheme
This grant scheme was launched in 2021. NESTRANS supports development of sustainable travel plans in Aberdeen City and Shire. Applicants can bid for up to £5,000 in matched funding and they are expected to demonstrate commitment by a contribution (or contribution in kind such as volunteer hours or resources) to the project.
Forestry Grant Scheme
This scheme is focused on providing financial support for businesses involved in the creation of either new woodland spaces or the sustainable management of existing woodlands. It is managed by the Scottish Rural Payments and Services agency and Scottish Forestry.
CAN DO Offshore Wind Innovation Feasibility Challenge
If you’re looking develop innovative technology solutions that could address important challenges in Scotland’s offshore wind sector, you could be eligible for £30,000 to £50,000 of grant funding to assess the feasibility of your project.
This grant will support successful applicants to conduct new detailed design, technical, and/or commercial feasibility assessment for relevant products and services, over a period of three months. Eligible projects should be completed by 30 June 2025 at the latest.
Innovation ideas should help to drive the offshore wind sector and Scotland’s supply chain forward, within the following sectors:
- Installation – Mooring systems connection, Floating electrical systems connection, Offshore floating assembly activities
- Operations and maintenance – for dynamic floating conditions, balance of plant condition monitoring, major component change strategies, and robotics solutions for floating offshore wind
- Electrical infrastructure – Improvements in HVAC and HVDC dynamic cables, Floating substations, Single mooring and cable disconnection point systems
- Mooring lines – Innovative mooring solutions including new materials for mooring systems, including rope, chain, and other materials
- Substructures – Manufacturing of floating wind concepts, Design for whole lifecycle cost reduction, Modular designs and reduced assembly times of steel substructures
- Blades – Next-generation composite materials, Blade edge protection, Circular economy (e.g. innovative thermal, mechanical, and chemical decommissioning processes), Blade inspection
- Towers – Next generation tower design and materials, Automation, welding, and manufacturing production lines
- Anchors – Innovative and novel anchor manufacturing methods and solutions
Hydrogen Projects Funding
This funding will help cover development costs for projects that focus on the low-cost, efficient, and sustainable production of renewable hydrogen. Eligible projects should contribute to the scale-up of the hydrogen economy and ideally be linked to the realisation of regional hydrogen hubs by the early 2030s. Some funding may be awarded to other projects to develop the hydrogen production supply chain.
Eligibility is for projects in Scotland with a production capacity of between 5 and 400 megawatts, specifically for projects seeking research and development (R&D) support for development expenditure (DEVEX) on stages including feasibility studies, pre-Front End Engineering Design (FEED).
Projects that produce hydrogen to make hydrogen derivatives – including, but not limited to, e-methanol, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), ammonia, and liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC) – as their final sale product are also eligible.
Clean Heat Strategic Workforce Development Fund
The fund is managed by Scottish Enterprise and is aimed at companies that are either already active or interested in diversifying into the ‘clean heat’ market – including such energy efficiency solutions as heat pumps and networks, smart controls, energy storage, and sources of fossil fuel free energy.
There are two main parts to the offer: workplace innovation support and financial grants.
The strategic workforce development support is provided by a specialist in Scottish Enterprise Workplace Innovation Team. It covers training related to technical aspects such as manufacturing, installation, design, automation, and engineering.
The grants are available in amounts between £5,000 and a maximum of £50,000 and are intended to cover up to 50% of eligible project costs. For example, a project with eligible costs of £20,000 could receive £10,000 in grant support. All projects need to be delivered by the end of March 2025, with final claims submitted by the end of April 2025.
Green Heat Innovation Support Programme
Funding will be available to companies across Scotland until March 2026 and can be accessed in various ways, including:
- Grant funding – open to applications at all times, support is available for large-scale company R&D and capital investmen projects focused on innovation in the crucial areas of green heat.
- Feasibility studies – these competitive funding calls help Scotland-based businesses develop innovative green heat solutions, focusing on technology readiness levels five to seven. The first of these calls is expected to launch in early 2023.
- CAN DO Innovation Challenges – using the Scotland CAN-DO approach, this route supports public sector innovation challenges. It provides innovators with 100 per cent funding via R&D service contracts through a competitive procurement process to fund the development of solutions. Its end goal is the deployment of commercial products and a contract with a challenge sponsor. It’s expected two CAN DO Innovation Challenges will be launched as part of the programme – the first by end of June 2023.
- European funding, through the Clean Energy Transition Partnership – a new transformative research, development and innovation programme which will support transnational collaborative projects designed to accelerate the energy transition. The programme has now launched, is open to organisations based in Scotland, and is delivered by Scottish Enterprise.
More details about each type of funding can be found on the Scottish Enterprise link above.
Low Emission Zone Support Fund for businesses
Energy Saving Trust is offering micro businesses and sole traders, with an operating site within 20km of Scotland’s low emission zones, a grant towards the safe disposal of non-compliant vehicles.
The Low Emission Zone Support Fund, funded by Transport Scotland and administered by Energy Saving Trust, offers an incentive for eligible businesses to take their older, more polluting vehicles off the road.
Grants of £2,000 are available to micro businesses with nine or fewer full-time employees and sole traders. Successful applicants will be required to dispose of their vehicle at a Scottish authorised treatment facility. A grant offer must be in place prior to vehicle disposal.
Following vehicle disposal and successful receipt of the fund, eligible businesses will be offered an additional £1,000 towards the purchase of a cargo or electric cargo bike option through Travel Better Fund for businesses.
Green Business Grant
The Glasgow City Council Green Business Grant will help businesses in Glasgow address both the cost of living and climate crises through measures such as energy efficiency, renewables, active travel and waste management.
The Green Business Grant is a non-repayable grant of up to £10,000, which will cover up to 50 per cent of the total cost of a project. Projects can include anything that helps businesses reduce their energy bills and make progress towards achieving net zero carbon emissions.
To be eligible for the grant, your business must:
- Be a small or medium-sized enterprise (as defined in the Companies Act 2006)
- Have been trading for at least six months
- Own its own premises in Glasgow or have written permission from your landlord to make changes to the premises and seek planning permissions from Glasgow City Council Planning Division to implement the works detailed in your application
- Have a Glasgow postcode and pay non-domestic rates in Glasgow
- Be headquartered in Glasgow
Premises of an organisation based outside Glasgow will not be considered. Businesses whose main base is within the city boundary cannot use the grant to improve premises or create jobs outside Glasgow.
Businesses that are owned by another business with more than a 25 per cent stake are not eligible.
The grant will cover up to 50 per cent of the total cost of a project, to a maximum of £10,000. Businesses must be prepared to cover the rest of the cost from other sources.
The grant will close to new applications on June 30, 2023 or when the budget is fully allocated, whichever is earlier.
All projects must be completed by December 31, 2023.
You will be contacted within 10 working days of submitting your completed online application.
Green Recovery Capital Development Grant
Through the Green Recovery Capital Development Grant, Perth and Kinross Council has made funding of up to £25,000 available for businesses that were financially affected by Covid-19 and now want to make capital investments in the Perth and Kinross area.
This fund offers grants of up to £25,000 to cover up to 50 per cent of eligible costs. Projects must involve a minimum spend of £10,000, which means that businesses must match the funding with at least £5,000. Preference will be given to projects that involve green initiatives which will reduce your business’ carbon footprint.
The grant will not be awarded upfront immediately after approval – instead, you will receive payment after you make your purchases and submit receipts or invoices. This means that initially you must be able to afford the project’s full cost until you are refunded.
Priority will be given to projects that reduce the carbon footprint of your business. Applications must be submitted before February 28, 2023.
Business chargepoint funding
To support the use of electric vehicles across Scotland, Transport Scotland offers grant funding to help organisations install electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure on their premises. The funding is distributed by Energy Saving Trust and is currently available for chargepoints that will only be used by occupiers, staff and visitors.
Grants to cover up to 50 per cent of the costs of purchasing and installing electric vehicle chargepoints are available to rural businesses and property factors who manage communal property areas, including parking, and other organisations that manage communal parking for residential properties, such as private landlords.
Grants to cover up to 75 per cent of the costs of purchasing and installing electric vehicle chargepoints are available to third sector organisations.
SMEs in rural areas of Scotland are eligible. Property factors who manage communal property areas, including parking, and other organisations that manage communal parking for residential properties, such as private landlords, are also eligible.
IBioIC Innovation Support
IBioIC has various funding programmes to help you progress your R&D, find collaborators and build your business.
Midlothian Council LACER
The Midlothian Council LACER Fund provides grants to businesses to support green projects, social enterprises to support start up and growth and aims to develop a network of local business associations to encourage collaboration.
Available funds are:
Social Enterprise Fund
Grants of up to £4,000 are available to support the development of locally based social enterprises, helping them to start up and grow.
Green Transition Fund
Supports businesses to implement a project that helps them be more environmentally friendly and progresses Scotland’s transition to Net Zero. A grant of 70 per cent of project costs up to £20,000 is available to help with the green transition.
Business Association Fund
A £1,500 grant is available to help businesses come together to deliver local projects collaboratively as part of a Business Association.
The LACER funds are available for Midlothian based businesses only. To find out more about the funds and how to apply, email bg@midlothian.gov.uk
East Renfrewshire Council SBA Get to Zero Grant
The SBA Get to Zero Grant provides funding for businesses in East Renfrewshire that wish to diversify and invest in sustainable measures to help their business become more efficient, in order to reduce carbon emissions and energy loss. Businesses can receive a 50 per cent match-funded grant of up to £5,000.
Measures could include:
- Low energy heating and lighting systems
- Improved insulation for roof and building
- Solar, ground or air source heat or solar thermal technology
- Waste management or recycling
- Equipment that demonstrates a significant energy saving through its installation
North Lanarkshire Business Recovery and Growth Fund
The Business Recovery and Growth Fund (BRGF) is targeted at new and existing businesses based in North Lanarkshire to support their strategic, longer term sustainability and growth.
BRGF grants will cover 50 per cent of eligible project costs, up to £50,000, to fund specific activities to help businesses recover, adapt and diversify their operations.
You are eligible if your business:
- Is based in North Lanarkshire
- Is a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (up to 250 employees)
- Expects its turnover to reach a minimum level of £85,000 within 12 months of the date of the application
- Does not operate in an ineligible sector: gambling and betting or drinking places (bars or public houses)
- Is not a ratepayer of a business in the retail sector operating in premises with a rateable value of £51,001 or over
- Has not incurred any project-related expenditure until after a formal decision on the grant application has been received
- Owns the business premises or has more than 12 months remaining on a commercial lease at the date of application
- Is not connected to a tax haven, as set out in the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No. 2) Act 2020
Home-based businesses must be trading (not incorporated) for more than 12 months and will only be considered for support in exceptional cases.
Falkirk Council Energy Efficiency Fund
The fund can provide grants to cover up to 50 per cent of your project costs, with a maximum of £10,000 per grant. The minimum grant value is £1,000, which means your project must cost at least £2,000.
The fund can be used to make changes to business premises and business operations to reduce their carbon footprint from energy consumption. This might include:
- Changing to a low carbon heating system
- Installation of low and zero carbon generating technologies, such as solar PV, biomass and micro-wind
- Building fabric upgrades such as insulation, energy-efficient lighting, draught-proofing, double or triple glazing
Before you begin your application, you will need a record of:
- The trading name of the business
- The number of employees, your turnover and export sales (where applicable)
- The proposed expenditure
- Your business bank details
- The rateable value of your premises – this can be found on www.saa.gov.uk
- A copy of your lease if you are paying non-domestic rates for the premise
- Your latest set of accounts and management accounts, as well as a business plan (or mini business plan)
- Two quotes for each item being purchased
- A calculation of your baseline carbon footprint
- The projected emissions reduction from this investment
The East Ayrshire Net Zero Grant
The East Ayrshire Net Zero Grant provides up to 50 per cent funding, up to £3,000, to support local businesses to transition towards net zero carbon emissions and also help offset the current rises in energy costs.
The fund is intended to help small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) to implement energy and resource efficiency improvements. It can be used for:
- The purchase of equipment that would contribute to energy saving
- Green skills training
- Renewable energy installations (for example, solar, ground or air source heat pumps)
- Waste management or recycling
- Lighting systems
- Roof and building insulation
- Low energy heating
To be eligible, a business must:
- Have been trading for at least 12 months
- Employ between three and 49 people
- Be working with Business Energy Scotland or the University of Strathclyde
- Have completed a business energy efficiency audit and created a carbon reduction plan
West Lothian Low Carbon Energy Efficiency Grant
The Low Carbon/Energy Efficiency Grant is for West Lothian businesses that are looking to:
- Overcome barriers to reducing their carbon emissions
- Implement new business processes that will help reduce carbon emissions
- Implement strategic changes identified through consultancy support
- Promote their green credentials
- Enter a new market in the net zero landscape
Your business must also:
- Have at least five employees
- Have been trading for at least one year
- Have growth potential over the next three years
Wales
Small Grants – Woodland Creation Scheme
Small Grants – Woodland Creation is a scheme aimed at farmers and other land managers to encourage planting of small areas of trees on land which is agriculturally improved or low environmental value in Wales.
Funding is available for tree planting to create shelterwoods, alongside watercourses, and in field corners or small fields for stock shelter, biodiversity and woodfuel. Small Grants – Woodland Creation also offers 12 years of payments for Maintenance and Premium payment in respect of the new planting.
All of the elements are laid out in a series of digital booklets. here.
Carmarthenshire Business Renewable Energy Fund
The fund will provide capital support to businesses towards the purchase of renewable energy systems for their business premises. Grants available are between £1,000 and £10,000 towards the cost of the renewable energy system, which will make up no more than 50 per cent of eligible costs.
Your business must either:
- Own the freehold, or
- Hold a lease with a seven-year minimum period remaining after the final grant payment date. You will need to secure your landlord’s written consent for the proposed works.
The business premises must be registered on Carmarthenshire County Council’s Non-Domestic Rates register. All expenditure associated to the grant must be completed within four months of the date of approval letter. Applicants will be treated on a first come, first served basis until the allocated fund has been used up.
The Sustainable Development Fund, Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB
The Sustainability Development Fund offers project grants, management grants to support staff costs or development grants to act as a catalyst for new action or partnerships.
It normally provides 50 per cent of total project costs but up to 75 per cent is available for eligible voluntary sector projects. Applicants are expected to contribute at least 25 per cent of total project costs either from their own reserves or from other sources such as European funds, National Lottery funding or ‘in kind’ contributions.
The private sector and individuals can apply, but the project has to be in the wider public interest to be eligible.
The fund supports projects which will:
- Conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the AONB, including the built environment
- Promote sustainable forms of social and economic development
- Promote the economic and social well-being of local communities
- Promote quiet enjoyment of the AONB
Priority is given to projects which:
- Involve local communities and young people
- Lever in contributions from other sources in cash or in kind
- Overcome barriers to sustainability and promote a wider understanding of sustainability
- Promote sustainable forms of social and economic development or add value to existing sustainability projects
- Raise awareness of the AONB and generate jobs or income for communities, without damaging the landscape
- Demonstrate innovation or best practice
Contact Ceri Lloyd at Loggerheads Country Park on 01824 712757 for more information.
Community Innovation Denbighshire
Led by Cadwyn Clwyd and Denbighshire Voluntary Services Council (DVSC), the £600,000 Community Innovation Denbighshire project will focus on encouraging micro firms, community groups and social enterprises in rural and urban areas to put forward proposals that will deliver regional and environmental benefits.
Supported by Denbighshire County Council and part-funded by the UK Government through the £220m UK Community Renewal Fund, support is available for 25 organisations or individuals who can apply for a £5,000 grant they will match-fund to trial new products, systems and services.
Business Wales will also be on hand with guidance and advice throughout the process.
For more information, email admin@cadwynclwyd.co.uk or call 01490 340500.
Boiler Upgrade Scheme
This is the same as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, but it’s available in Wales as well as England. With this scheme, you can get a grant to cover part of the cost of replacing fossil fuel heating systems with a heat pump or biomass boiler.
You’re eligible if:
- Own the property you’re applying for (including if it’s a business, a second home or a property you rent out to tenants)
- Have installed your new heating system on or after April 1, 2022
- Be replacing fossil fuel heating systems (such as oil, gas or electric)
You’re still eligible if you’ve already had funding to make your property more energy efficient, for example by insulating it.
Northern Ireland
DAERA grants and funding
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs is a government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. This page lists environmental grants along with other business support.
If you can’t find any suitable eco business grants in the list above, take a look at the government’s finance and business support round-up or your local authority’s website. Just be aware that some of the grants listed on the government’s website have expired. Finally, support may be available in other forms for green improvements you want to make – this could be advice, mentoring, energy assessments or something else entirely.
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