Deal facts
- ClientWest Suffolk Council
- SectorClean energy/ transport
- LocationWest Suffolk
- ProductDebt
- UKIB commitment£17 million
A replicable portfolio approach to net zero investments
UKIB will provide a £17 million loan to West Suffolk Council, with funds drawn over a three-year period to support delivery of the Council’s net zero programme, which includes building decarbonisation measures, rooftop solar, transitioning the council’s fleet to electric vehicles, renewable energy investment as part of major projects and the decarbonisation of community assets such as upgrading street lights to LED. Collectively these activities aim to reduce emissions from Council operations by more than 30%.
The programme will also support decarbonisation in the local business community through expansion of the Council’s successful Solar for Business scheme. Surpluses from the scheme will subsidise other environmental measures allowing the programme to be delivered on at least a cost neutral basis for the Council.
By aggregating interventions into a financially sustainable package, West Suffolk is also able to finance a number of smaller net zero interventions that individually fall below UKIB’s £5 million minimum loan size. Adopting a portfolio approach in this way could be key to enabling local authorities to drive forward their net zero ambitions. Read more on this approach.
A word from the team
Managing Director in Local Authority Advisory and Lending, Lorna Pimlott, said:
West Suffolk’s net zero fund is an excellent example of how a local authority can package together a number of smaller net zero interventions into one, bankable proposition. This model has high potential for replicability, and we hope to work with other authorities to adopt a similar blueprint to deliver their net zero ambitions.
This agreement with UKIB means West Suffolk Council can continue to drive its package of plans to help achieve our ambition for net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and towards delivering our strategic priority for environmental resilience.
Our net zero fund is about further improving air quality for the benefit of our residents’ health across West Suffolk by driving forward our plans for better electric vehicle infrastructure. And it also means we can power on with our work to support businesses with the free supply and installation of solar panels on roofs, cutting their carbon emissions, saving on their energy costs and contributing income to support the council’s services to our communities across West Suffolk.
Councillor Diane Hind
Cabinet Member for West Suffolk Council
Delivering carbon savings and supporting grid resilience
The net zero programme will deliver significant carbon savings for West Suffolk Council. The deployment of rooftop solar across West Suffolk will also support grid resilience in the local area. In total, the project is expected to deliver around 37,000 tCo2 over a 20-year lifespan, while also creating and supporting more than 50 jobs during the three year delivery period.