£1m fund gives green dream new momentum
THE South West has taken a major step forward in its ambitions to become the greenest region in the UK.
Soon to become a test bed for the UK’s first electric flight and home to a new fleet of smart underwater robots, the South West is pioneering projects that are pushing its carbon net-zero vision to reality.
It has launched a £1 million loan scheme to support environmental businesses and has the backing of the shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, but business leaders are calling for more Government support for digital connectivity to turbocharge the scale of its ambitions.
Harnessing the skills in the green tech industry and supporting businesses that draw on the region’s natural assets – from eco tourism to wave technology – are top priorities for the Great South West partnership.
The group is led by the #BackTheGreatSouthWest campaign, supported by the Pennon Group, the Western Morning News, LEPs and major employers across Devon and Cornwall.
Great South West chairman, Steve Hindley, said: “The Great South West is committed to the delivery of carbon net-zero. We will continue to work with Government to realise these ambitions and support our businesses and communities to transition to a low-carbon economy.”
In its prospectus, ‘Securing Our Future’, which was published in January 2020, the region set out its ambition to be the greenest economy in England and the first net exporter of green energy through its key wind, solar, geothermal and nuclear assets.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak set out plans for the UK’s green recovery in his spring Budget. But the South West missed out on any specific mention.
Susan Davy, chief executive of Pennon Group, the only FTSE-listed company in Devon and Cornwall and spearhead for the #BackTheGreatSouthWest campaign, said the region had all the natural resources and expertise it needed to deliver a green economic recovery from the pandemic.
She said: “Our region is uniquely placed to deliver green economic growth for the UK, and to unlock it we need investment in digital infrastructure and in our electricity grid capacity and smart energy infrastructure, as this is holding back renewables and electric vehicles.”
She said Pennon, one of the largest companies in the region, which owns South West Water, was proposing to significantly increase its investment, through the Green Recovery programme, creating up to 500 green jobs, with six project areas focused on improving public health, protecting the environment and addressing climate change.
She said: “Our proposals will increase South West Water’s environmental investment to 2025 by £92 million – a 10% increase to South West Water’s existing £1 billion investment programme.”
In an interview earlier this month, Labour’s Mrs Dodds agreed with some West Country business leaders that the recent Budget had provided support for pandemic-damaged businesses but stopped short of creating a vision for growing the regional economy.
Our region is uniquely placed to deliver green economic growth for the UK SUSAN DAVY, PENNON
She said investment was necessary for the region’s innovative and environmentally-friendly ventures, including the marine, geothermal, solar and tidal industries.
“The South West has been suffering when it comes to tourism and the visitor economy,” she said. “And there are issues around connectivity, and a strong case for the Government to be providing that infrastructure investment now.
“But there are opportunities as well, and ambitions that exist around the possibilities of the green economy and geothermal and tidal energy, and new jobs.”.
This week, Plymouth Marine Laboratory announced a groundbreaking project involving a fleet of carbon-neutral autonomous marine sensing technologies as part of
Smart Sound Plymouth. These include the PML Pioneer – a wavepropelled autonomous vessel, two advanced data buoys and four robotic ‘ecosubs’ that give unrivalled capabilities in carbon-neutral ocean observation.
Icarus Allen, the laboratory’s chief executive, said: “The South West is becoming a world-leading hub for green technology and innovation, and the ambition of the Great South West to become a net-zero carbon economy, using the region’s science and research base and building on the commitment to clean growth, is absolutely feasible with the right support from Government and the private sector.
“The Government has stated its ambitions for the UK as a science ‘superpower’, and Plymouth and the wider South West clearly have a key role to play in this, particularly given our unique strengths in the marine sector.”
The region is also set to be the test bed for the UK’s first electric commuter test flight as part of a £5m project that could lead to hybrid-electric aircraft running domestic routes in future. The flight will be between Exeter and Newquay airports after a successful bid to UK Research and Innovation’s £30m Future Flight Challenge from a consortium led by electric aviation firm Ampaire.
This month, the Crown Estate announced it was looking at leasing opportunities for early commercialscale floating wind projects in the Celtic Sea, between the South West and Wales. It comes after the South West Floating Offshore Wind Accelerator last year announced it was working up a detailed bid for a slice
of £30m Government funding to kickstart the project, which would generate clean power and create thousands of green jobs.
Professor Ian Bateman, an environmental expert at Exeter University, said the South West was the “ideal region” to trailblaze new approaches to a green recovery following the pandemic.
Prof Bateman believes there are “huge opportunities” for the South West to adopt new strategies for recovering the economy and “levelling up” with other parts of the UK as the country looks to the future. He is heading a project aiming to deliver economic and community benefits to the West Country. The idea is to help companies in the region boost their bottom line by engaging in activities that will also benefit the environment.
The scheme, known as the South West Partnership for Environmental and Economic Prosperity, is a collaboration between the University of Exeter, Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the University of Plymouth and is being funded by the Natural Environment Research Council’s Regional Impact from Science of the Environment programme for five years. It is also being supported by NatWest.
Some of the so-called ‘impact projects’ across the region include work to reduce coastal flood risks; work to reduce water pollution; help for small businesses that are dependent on natural capital; boosting economic gains for the marine, coastal and tourism sectors; and enhancing the South West’s aquaculture industry.
And pioneering environmental businesses can now bid for cash as part of an innovative £1m fund.
The Heart of the South West (HotSW) LEP has launched the Natural Capital
Demonstrator Fund for businesses and organisations to develop and finance ‘natural capital’ projects that support the environment while at the same time providing wider economic benefits.
The LEP is hoping the fund will be able to support a portfolio of projects that will deliver new methodologies towards natural capital that can be replicated in other areas and scaled up.
The NCD fund aims to support the HotSW’s clean growth priority and is aligned to the Government’s 25-year Environment Strategy, and Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.
There is a two-stage process to apply for the fund. Initially, a short expression of interest must be submitted by April 8. These will then be shortlisted and projects moving to the next stage may be able to apply for a share of £20,000 to help develop the full business case.
Karl Tucker, HotSW chair, said: “It is a trailblazer model and we are looking for demonstrator projects that show the concept of natural capital in action and help develop understanding of how we can look at the protection of the environment and economic growth together.”