The Carbon Trust has announced that it will improve access for small and medium businesses to over £100m in interest-free and unsecured loans. The loans are provided to help businesses reduce their carbon emissions principally through investment in energy saving processes and products. The changes extend the eligibility for the recently expanded loan fund. The minimum loan amount
has been lowered to £3,000, putting the loans within reach of micro-businesses; the upper limit has been doubled from £200,000 to £400,000 to meet the needs of small and medium businesses with high energy spends, such as manufacturing companies.
The Carbon Trust expects to deliver over £100m in loan funding to UK SMEs over the next two years, including almost £84m in England allocated by the Government as part of Budget 2009.
In most cases, businesses taking a Carbon Trust loan to update their equipment find the savings they make on energy bills exceed the cost of the loan repayments. This means they benefit from brand new equipment, increased efficiency and reduced running costs, all at no expense to themselves. The Carbon Trust also offers advice to businesses, including a free on-site service to help them identify the energy-saving equipment with the greatest potential to reduce their running costs.
Businesses can find more information about interest free Carbon Trust loans by visiting www.carbontrust.co.uk/loans
