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Carbon Trust offers Smaller Businesses interest free loans for energy efficiency

Release date: 11/02/2009

In a bid to help smaller businesses continue to improve energy efficiency, the Carbon Trust has now increased the maximum amount of its interest-free loans to £200,000.

Not only has the maximum allowable loan gone up from £100,000 to £200,00, but the overall amount of loan money available has increased by 45% to £31 million.

The loans, which are unsecured, interest-free and repayable over a period of up to four years, provide a cost effective way for small businesses to upgrade equipment with a more energy efficient version - thereby reducing energy bills and cutting their carbon footprint.

Loans are often offered on a partial basis, but the economic climate has made availability of alternative sources of financing more difficult. Large projects that can deliver the necessary carbon savings will now be eligible for loans that fund a greater proportion or total project cost.

Hugh Jones, solutions director at the Carbon Trust, said: "We know that SMEs want to play their part in tackling climate change, and reduce their energy costs at the same time. But in the current economic climate, the tighter credit conditions are making it harder for small businesses to find alternative sources of funding.”

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