Innovate UK, the UK Government’s innovation agency, has announced its latest round of Smart Grant funding, which includes a substantial commitment to Net Zero Now, the climate action platform.
Innovate UK, part of the UK Research and Innovation agency, invests in game-changing and world-leading ideas that offer significant potential for rapid economic return to the UK.
The grant awarded to Net Zero Now will enable the creation of an environment where suppliers and contractors in the construction industry can compete on the basis of the level of emissions they would add to a project – giving them a tangible commercial incentive to reduce their emissions.
The project builds on Net Zero Now’s unique, sector-led approach – working with industry bodies and corporate partners in multiple sectors to agree a common industry-standard interpretation of the global Net Zero guidelines.
These “Sector Protocols”:
● Provide clarity on what businesses in each sector need to do to measure, report, reduce and compensate for the carbon emissions and receive Certification of their Net Zero status
● Ensure businesses are reporting their emissions data on a like-for- like basis, creating an environment where customers at each stage of the value chain can identify and reward the lowest emissions supplier.
To date, Net Zero Now has collaborated with partners to develop sector- specific roadmaps that cover hundreds of thousands of SMEs. Current partners include industry bodies - The Law Society, ICAEW, ACCA, AAT,TechNation, Tech UK, CISI and The Sustainable Restaurant Association - and corporate brand partners including Coca Cola, Pernod Ricard, L’Oréal, Sage Group and Liontrust Asset Management.
Neil Ross Russell, Managing Director, Net Zero Now, commented: “The construction industry faces huge structural challenges in meeting its obligation to measure, report and reduce carbon emissions due to the many and different types of (often small) businesses involved in the build process.
Our solution is simple in concept – First, we ensure consistency of data by agreeing industry-standard methodologies for carbon measurement and reporting for each of the different types of businesses in the Construction industry. Secondly, we provide a simple online process through which they can not only calculate their annual footprint, but also forecast and report project-specific emissions.
This creates a level-playing field for clients and main contractors to compare supplier / contractor emissions, ensuring consistent and credible data to calculate the total impact of the build process and giving those businesses a genuine commercial incentive to get on the road to Net Zero,
In making this Smart Grant, Innovate UK has recognised Net Zero Now's purposeful approach as a highly effective solution in decarbonising the industry by providing a clear route map for any business involved in the build process and a platform that enables them to credibly calculate emissions in a way that allows comparability with others in their sector and show that on their quotes.”
This grant comes on the back of an investment into Net Zero Now last week by UK merchant bank Turquoise and Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 (LCIF2). This is part of a capital raising round in which other investors included UK venture capital firm SyndicateRoom.
For further information go to www.netzeronow.org or contact Susan Arumemi: susan@netzeronow.org
