DE-Carbonise Project

Funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), DE-Carbonise delivered a business support programme to SMEs in the East Midlands of the UK between 2016-2022. It was led by the University of Derby, in collaboration with Derby City and Derbyshire County Councils that extended the earlier D2 Energy Efficiency/Low Carbon project and the BESPOKE energy efficiency scheme. DE-Carbonise provided:

• Decarbonisation audits, grant funding for energy efficiency measures, product and operations innovation and R&D, as well as business improvement consultancy for SMEs operating in a diverse range of sectors to support their journey towards Net Zero.
• Support to over 1000 SMEs between 2016-2022, providing grants worth over £1.6 million for energy efficiency measures that delivered savings of over £3/4 million per year; helping 273 SMEs to be significantly more resilient in the face of steep rises in energy costs.
•  Consultancy to 153 SMEs with 47 of these continuing with larger collaborative R&D projects resulting in a further 32,000 tC02e savings from product, process, and business innovation - outperforming the original programme target of 2,400 tC02e.