BOARDROOM
Innocent Drinks tops up green farming fund by £1mn
Innocent Drinks is to invest a further £1mn in its Farmer Innovation fund, which provides support to farmers in its supply chains as they transition to low-carbon practices. The fund provides grants between £20,000 and £500,000, and will help Innocent decarbonise its own supply chains. Innocent hopes to reduce its per-bottle carbon footprint by 50% by 2030, with a net-zero value chain by 2040.
£10bn uplift for Britain’s stretched green-power industry
A start-up plans to invest £10bn to create the UK’s largest portfolio of battery storage projects, The Guardian reports. NatPower, a UK firm with European backing, is due to submit planning applications for a total of 13 “gigaparks” in the north and west of England, the paper revealed. The parks could create 60 gigawatt hours of battery storage, or enough to power over 17,000 homes for a year. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and subsequent embargoes on Russian oil and gas, the demand for renewable energy has grown rapidly.
Scotland puts £500,000 behind hydrogen innovation
Aberdeen’s Net Zero Technology Centre has announced a £500,000 competition for up to five green–hydrogen projects, with financing from the Scottish Government’s Green Transition Fund, edie.com reports. The UK is aiming for 10GW of ‘low-carbon’ hydrogen production by 2030, with at least 50% of that coming from green hydrogen. Hydrogen is touted as a less carbon intensive alternative to methane gas and can be transported over long distances. Alongside Scotland’s investment, the UK Government recently awarded £21mn of funding to seven projects, adding 800MW to the national production capacity.
Dutch climate tech firm Carbon Equity closes €100m raise
Carbon Equity exceeded its €75m target for its second climate tech fund, which will invest in up to 10 private equity and venture capital funds, indirectly financing urgently needed solutions like carbon-free cement and plant-based proteins, Impact Investor reports. Jacqueline van den Ende, co-founder and CEO, told Impact Investor that the firm had been surprised by the level of demand for the fund. She noted that over the past three years, this market had seen greater interest, “not only from traditional impact investors, but also from more financially-driven investors,” citing the competitive returns which can be generated by climate tech.
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