The Provision of a Low Carbon Business Evidence Base Report

The Combined Authority declared a climate emergency in July 2019, with the ambitious for the region to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. Our Climate and Ecological Strategy & Action plan, published in April 2022 and due to be updated in April 2023, seeks to detail how we intend to achieve this, with low carbon buildings and low carbon business being two major pillars of the plan.

We are seeking to obtain evidence to help the Combined Authority develop programmes to support to region's SMEs to decarbonise. The evidence gained will be used to make adjustments to our existing programmes, focused on Small & medium sized enterprises (SMEs), ready for relaunch in Spring 2023, as well as potentially develop new programmes where gaps and opportunities are identified if funding becomes available in the medium term.

We are particularly looking to understand the following:

• The scale of the challenge/opportunity in decarbonising the region's non-domestic building stock, including common building types, ages and constructions.
• The support that SMEs believe they need in order to progress or begin their journey to net-zero carbon emissions.
• The level of financial assistance that SMEs may need to incentivise certain actions, and whether some actions do not require any assistance.