Allia launches year-long Climate in Focus campaign
Allia has kick-started a Climate in Focus campaign that will span activities within its Future Business Centres and the programmes that its venture support team deliver in 2022, in order to raise the urgency of the climate crisis and support those who have innovative solutions to address it.
With a growing body of evidence pointing very clearly to a rapidly escalating global climate emergency, Allia will amplify the work of those tackling the pressing problems facing our planet – in partnership with global initiatives, climate experts, its networks and local councils.
Starting in January with the launch of its Climate Accelerator – for which Allia is the first UK partner of leading European climate initiative EIT Climate-KIC, the programme will support a cohort of 15 ventures which all harness ‘climate tech’ to provide a range of innovative solutions demonstrating potential for scalable impact. Through the free six-month programme, the ventures – which range from e-bikes and agritech to novel energy solutions – will receive intensive coaching, workshops and mentoring to help them accelerate their growth.
In the same month, Allia has started a new project working with Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce to manage the delivery of Green Business Grants on behalf of Cambridge City Council. The scheme allows businesses in Cambridge to apply for up to £10,000 in grants to help reduce their energy consumption, save money and improve their sustainability.
Following on over the coming months, various other activities will start which continue this theme – such as Allia’s Future Business Centres in both Cambridge and Peterborough working towards accreditation to the Investors in the Environment (iie) scheme. The national scheme helps businesses to achieve environmental certification, measuring them on how sustainable their business is and the initiatives they introduce for better eco-focused processes and procedures. Allia’s Peterborough centre was formerly accredited at the highest level for its commitment to minimising environmental impact and widening its sustainable approach.
Allia hopes to work with local councils in both Cambridgeshire and Peterborough in order to help support net zero initiatives across the region. Its venture support team which delivers free programmes to businesses in Cambridge, Peterborough and East London are weaving sustainability and climate-focused content into all of their programmes in order to help small businesses navigate ways to become more sustainable and monitor & reduce their carbon footprints.
This campaign underpins an aim that has been active within the organisation for many years already, as many of its previous programmes, such as the Impact Accelerator, and its centre operations and tenants, have been focused on both environmental and social innovation. Its Cambridge Future Business Centre was purpose built in 2013 and incorporates a range of innovative solutions to make the building more sustainable, including greywater recycling and double-glazed PV units which double up as a design feature on the building’s façade. Many of the tenants who have been at the centre for years are cleantech and smart energy start-ups, and they, together with long-term tenant Cambridge Cleantech, form an innovation hub focused on developing global sustainability solutions.
David Broach, Director of Future Business Centres, said “At Allia Future Business Centres, we are committed to addressing the climate emergency and supporting our tenants and wider stakeholders in developing new solutions to this escalating global challenge. Whilst we have always been conscious of our own environmental impact, we must continue to do more across all our sites to reduce the climate impact of our workspaces by embracing new ways of working and new technologies. This is the start of an exciting journey towards our ambition of becoming a net-zero operation in the future.”
Martin Clark, CEO Allia Impact, added “The climate emergency demands a much greater level of response so we are looking at everything we can do both to raise our own game and to inspire others. It must be a collective effort so working with our tenants, programme participants and partners will achieve much more than we could ever do alone. And it’s not just for one year – it’s for life.”
As the year progresses, watch this space for further news about the next Climate In Focus initiative that Allia will be promoting and working on, all to support those projects, enterprises, ventures and businesses that put the climate first and truly aim to address the growing climate challenge, to help save the planet.
More information on the Climate Accelerator here
More information about the Cambridge City Green Business Grants scheme here
And visit the Investors in the Environment website for more information about their accreditation scheme
