The Development Bank of Wales is the UK’s first bank to use Perseus in its due diligence process for green loans.
The news is a significant milestone for the Perseus scheme, which makes it easier for UK SMEs to access green financing by automating their sustainability reporting and helps banks use assurable data to underpin their decisions.
The innovation means the Development Bank of Wales is offering more favourable loan rates to SMEs by using assurable data to benchmark and check that they comply with the terms of its green loans.
With Perseus, SMEs can share accurate emissions data with their bank to access green loans. They can receive emissions reports generated based on their electricity smart meter data and share them with their banks or lenders to unlock green finance.
The Development Bank of Wales is among a group of leading businesses and non-profits taking part in the Perseus pilot – including Sage, Perse and SmartDCC.
Over the last year, the Perseus team has designed the key operational, legal and technical elements of automated sustainability reporting. It is guided by a group of over 180 people from commercial businesses, non-profits, public bodies and trade associations, with support from the UK Government.
Matthew Kelly, Sustainability Manager, Development Bank of Wales, said: “This is a first of its kind pilot, using technology to drive down the business burden of reporting for SMEs and increase the accuracy of carbon abatement assessment and monitoring.
“We believe that Perseus will help scale green finance by giving us access to assurable, trustworthy data. It means that SMEs will get the capital that they need to boost their productivity while decarbonising, therefore helping us to get to net zero faster.”
Rebecca Evans, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning in the Welsh Government welcomed the announcement. She said: “The Development Bank being named as the UK’s first bank to use Perseus further demonstrates Wales’ commitment to promoting sustainable business and securing a low carbon economy.
“It’s an important milestone for the Development Bank and we are pleased to see them taking a lead role in making it easier for UK SMEs to access green financing so that we can support their productivity and reduce emissions.”
Gavin Starks, CEO of Icebreaker One, which runs Perseus, said: “This milestone takes us from use case to case study – showing that unlocking access to data, with the permission of the customer, can help get green finance flowing to SMEs.
“It’s a major proof point that the Perseus Scheme can enable trusted smart data to flow between SMEs, carbon accounting platforms, and banks – and help accelerate access to billions on the race to zero.
“Small and medium-sized businesses account for 50% of UK business emissions, but often struggle to get the capital they need to decarbonise. Even if they have the intent, they often lack the time, expertise and money to act. We want Perseus to help the market solve that: to go far, we go together.”
The Perseus pilot is still underway, working with banks, carbon accounting providers, small businesses, and others. Find out more about joining Perseus.