Low Carbon Champions (LCC) is a three year partnership project that will support 75 small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Suffolk in meeting their carbon commitments in a sustainable way. This will be achieved through developing Low Carbon Champions within the businesses who will be helped to:
- Identify means of reducing carbon by provision of an audit
- Set out an action plan for the reduction of carbon emissions within the workplace
- Source advice and provision that could aid the delivery of the carbon reduction action plan
- Sell the benefits of carbon reduction to the business and to work colleagues
- Apply for funding that will pay for 65% of the total cost of a carbon efficiency related project to a maximum grant value of £5000.
- Implement carbon reduction programmes
- Monitor their progress and evaluate the impact of their particular interventions
- Achieve recognised accreditation through working towards ISO 14001 and/or ANSWER charter scheme aimed at SMEs.
The project will aim to prove that the provision of expert knowledge, relevant skills training and small scale investment can achieve a significant change for SMEs. The benchmark of success will be a decrease in carbon emissions produced by the participating businesses equivalent to 15% in energy savings. A robust evaluation will be in place throughout the project to document the achievements.
The project runs from April 2010 until March 2013. It is a partnership between Suffolk County Council, Green Light Trust, Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, Suffolk Climate Change Partnership and Choose Suffolk and it is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Suffolk County Council.
For more information visit http://www.greenlighttrust.org/low-carbon-champions or E-mail: will.sambrook@greenlightrust.org
