Half-a-million pounds has been ring-fenced by Glasgow City Council to support local businesses in their transition towards net zero carbon emissions.
The local authority has set up a green business grant award scheme where small and medium sized enterprises can apply for funding of up to £10,000 to help them become more eco friendly.
The programme, which is part of Glasgow’s Green Deal - a nine-year mission to tackle the climate and ecological emergency - builds on national programmes to reduce the impact of the energy crisis while dealing with climate change.
READ MORE: Warning Glasgow's net zero push must not 'devastate' workers or livelihoods
During the most recent scrutiny committee, councillor Imran Alam asked officers how much money had been set aside for this project where it was confirmed by a council officer that £500,000 in total would be available to support local businesses.
A document previously issued by Glasgow City Council confirmed that the grant can be used for anything that will help these businesses make progress towards net-zero carbon emissions and result in long-term sustained reductions in energy bills.
Suggestions include:
- Upgrading the efficiency of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.
- Renewable heat technologies such as installing an air source heat pump, ground source heat pump or biomass boiler.
- Improving insulation, draught-proofing, or installing new doors, or double/secondary glazing.
- Installing renewable electricity such as solar panels or wind turbines
- Installing LED lighting.
- Improving the energy efficiency of business equipment or machinery.
- Supporting the switch to active travel or Electric Vehicles (EVs):
- Provision of shower facilities or active travel infrastructure such as cycle racks
- Installing EV infrastructure on premises
To be eligible for the grant, businesses must be a small or medium sized enterprise as defined in the Companies Act 2006 and have been trading for at least six months.
Business owners must own their premises or gain written permission from their landlord to make these changes.
More information can be found via the council’s website and is available here.
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