A new £500 million fund has been launched to help public buildings and small businesses become more energy efficient.

The Mayor's Energy Efficiency Fund (MEEF) is the UK's largest ever dedicated investment fund for urban energy efficiency measures.

The initiative has been created by Mayor for London Sadiq Khan, who through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Amber Infrastructure Group, has worked with key commercial lenders such as Lloyds Bank, National Westminster Bank, Santander UK, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Triodos Bank to help public-sector organisations and small businesses who want to install energy-efficiency measures, but often can't access the necessary finance.

The MEEF offers a wide range of funding options through its consortium of funders, to deliver new low carbon technology or upgrade existing low carbon infrastructure, with an investment period of up to 20 years. Measures that could be funded include battery storage, electric vehicle rapid charging infrastructure, decentralised energy, small-scale renewables, energy efficiency, and low-carbon data centres for boroughs.

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The funding is also open to small businesses and energy service companies operating across London.

The fund builds on the success of the Mayor's previous London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF), which helped St. George's University Hospital Foundation Trust in Tooting install a new power and heating system that stores and recycles heat produced from generating electricity.

Mayor Khan said: "This is the largest fund of its kind in the UK that will help deliver the low-carbon, sustainable projects and infrastructure London needs to cut energy costs and reduce carbon emissions across our universities, hospitals, museums and small businesses.

"It is a great example of how the public and private sectors can come together to create millions of pounds of investment for low-carbon projects and help fast track London towards our goal of becoming a zero-carbon city by 2050."

Joanne Patrick, MEEF Director at Amber Infrastructure Group, said: "MEEF seeks to address market failure in London's low-carbon sector by providing flexible and competitive finance to enable, accelerate or enhance viable green infrastructure across London's boroughs.

"It's a key part of the Mayor's strategy to improve the capital's existing building stock and improve the energy performance of new buildings – helping homes, businesses and public buildings to use less energy and save money on energy bills.

"We have a proven track record of helping London get greener, having already mobilised over £350 million in low-carbon projects to reduce CO2 emissions by over 35,000 tonnes – equivalent to taking 32,000 cars off the road."

(LM)