The Development Bank of Wales is the UK’s first bank to pilot Perseus, a groundbreaking industry led scheme, designed to enable SMEs to automate their energy reporting, enable targeted decarbonisation planning and unlock green financing.
SME businesses account for around half (50%) of UK business-driven emissions, with significant opportunities to improve their productivity through energy switching and efficiency measures.
Perseus provides a means for SMEs to share their smart meter data with carbon accounting providers, banks and lenders, while retaining control of its use. This enables SMEs to access automated reporting and planning tools and provide the assurance that lenders need for green lending, often at a favourable rate.
Led by Icebreaker One, Perseus has been driven by an industry group including the Development Bank, British Business Bank, Institute of Directors, NatWest and Barclays. The Development Bank is now the first to pilot Perseus in its due diligence processes for its green business loan products.
Rebecca Evans, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning welcomed the announcement. She said: “The Development Bank being named as the UK’s first bank to use Perseus further demonstrates Wales’ commitment to promoting sustainable business and securing a low carbon economy.
“It’s an important milestone for the Development Bank and we are pleased to see them taking a lead role in making it easier for UK SMEs to access green financing so that we can support their productivity and reduce emissions.”
Gavin Starks, CEO of Icebreaker One, which runs Perseus, said: “This milestone takes us from use case to case study - showing that unlocking access to data, with the permission of the customer, can help get green finance flowing to SMEs.
“It’s a major proof point that the Perseus Scheme can enable trusted smart data to flow between SMEs, carbon accounting platforms, and banks - and help accelerate access to billions on the race to zero.
“Small and medium-sized businesses account for 50% of UK business emissions, but often struggle to get the capital they need to decarbonise. Even if they have the intent, they often lack the time, expertise and money to act. We want Perseus to help the market solve that: to go far, we go together.”
Matthew Kelly, Sustainability Manager, Development Bank of Wales, said: “This is a first of its kind pilot, using technology to drive down the business burden of reporting for SMEs and increase the accuracy of carbon abatement assessment and monitoring.
“We believe that Perseus will help scale green finance by giving us access to assurable, trustworthy data. It means that SMEs will get the capital that they need to boost their productivity while decarbonising, therefore helping us to get to net zero faster.”
The Perseus pilot is still underway, working with banks, carbon accounting providers, small businesses, and others. Find out more about joining Perseus.
