A new government emissions reduction trial will reduce energy bills for pubs, cafes, restaurants and hotels across the UK as part of the Plan for Change initiative.
Over 600 small and medium sized hospitality businesses will receive free energy and carbon reduction assessments to cut energy costs, support productivity and boost growth.
Funded by the government and delivered by Zero Carbon Services, one of the UK’s leading net-zero advisers for the hospitality sector, the trial is expected to save businesses over £3m.
The hospitality sector is largely made up of SMEs and supports 3.5 million jobs, while contributing £93bn to the UK economy.
The scheme will support businesses to make cost effective changes such as fixing insulation gaps, upgrading to low energy lighting or tweaking heating settings that will add up to significant savings over the year.
The launch of the trial comes ahead of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy, which will turbocharge growth in the UK’s key sectors including clean energy.
Zero Carbon Services CEO Mark Chapman said: “Climate change is already impacting hospitality with extreme weather events reducing sales and increasing food supply costs. Combined with other cost increases, there has never been a more important time to both recover lost profits and take credible action on reducing carbon emissions, the key cause of climate change.
“We’ve already helped thousands of UK pubs, restaurants and hotels, to cut carbon and costs and thanks to this scheme, we can now offer that support for free to even more independent businesses.”
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, commented: “Hospitality businesses have already made great strides to reduce their emissions but are keen to go further and faster in order to save costs and become more sustainable.”
“We’re pleased to support this new trial that can help businesses further cut their emissions, and we’re looking forward to working with the government and Zero Carbon Services on its rollout.”
