Rishi Sunak set to unveil £15bn green savings scheme

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is this week set to unveil plans for £15 billion of green savings bonds, allowing more people to invest in renewable energy projects such as wind or solar power. The move comes as the latest policy from the government in the goal to become carbon neutral by 2050 and reduce emissions by at least 68% (compared to 1990 levels) by the end of the decade.

This kind of programme is set to tap into growing demand from investors in the UK for investment opportunities that will make an impact on lowering emissions or increasing sustainability. In fact, recent research from IW Capital shows that 45% of investors are looking to back green or sustainable firms in 2021 with many of them set to back small firms, 16% of investors are set to invest in start-ups this year.

With demand for green investment outside the traditional funds and trusts growing, who are the companies making a difference at this end of the market? Throughout 2020 and so far in 2021, IW Capital have invested in a number of such firms helping them grow and make an impact on their respective sectors.

These include Transcend Packaging, a paper-based packaging company that pivoted to produce plastic-free PPE during the pandemic and has, since the investment, almost doubled its workforce. IW Capital have also backed Impact Recycling who have developed a breakthrough plastic recycling technology which separates the components of post-consumer, mixed plastic waste to recover two consistent streams of plastic: polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), each with over 95% purity.

IW Capital’s most recent investment, in LAT Water, provided vital growth capital to a technology that treats highly contaminated industrial water utilising waste heat, in an effort to clean up some of the most polluting industries to exist globally as well as use in landfill management.

Luke Davis, CEO of IW Capital, comments:

“Investment appetite has shifted significantly in the past few years and investors are now far more cognisant of the impact the companies they back make. Of course returns are still high on the priority list but investors want to do good as well as doing well with their money. Our research shows this is a growing desire and that has been matched by the sentiments of the investors we work with.

“We have seen record demand for investment opportunities such as Transcend Packaging and LAT Water as investors see tremendous opportunities in the sector as the government moves toward a more sustainable policy. Economically and in tackling these issues small businesses are going to be key over the next few years and supporting the grassroots of green business is one of the most important areas as the UK approaches its carbon neutral goal.”