Icebreaker One is driving the implementation of the Perseus programme, which will cover electricity data initially, before rolling out to include gas and water.
Perseus will allow SMEs to choose to automatically share their electricity data with the platforms they use, to calculate their emissions with one click. In doing so, it could unlock green finance for UK SMEs, helping them to reduce emissions more quickly.
Lloyds Bank, Triodos Bank, Xero FDATA, Smarter Contracts, and other organisations have joined the Perseus project, taking its membership to around 40. These businesses will work together to design the rules and processes to enable automated emissions reporting.
According to research by the British Business Bank, while SMEs account for 43% to 53% of UK business greenhouse gas emissions, only 3% have measured their carbon footprint and set targets for reduction.
Commenting on this, officials from Icebreaker One said that a host of new members for Perseus accelerates their journey to automated and exact emissions reporting for every UK SME. As the financial sector increases its demands on the real economy for trusted smart data, Perseus will help de-risk investment and save time and money on the race to zero.
For accounting platforms, Perseus intends to provide their SME customers with the ability to produce sustainability reports and be incentivised to do so. In turn, platforms will be able to provide personalised recommendations based on higher quality emissions data.
Perseus, which is supported by the UK government and was included in the 2023 Green Finance Strategy, is overseen by trade associations including the British Business Bank, UK Finance, Innovate Finance, the Federation of Small Businesses, and Energy UK.
Through Perseus, banks could offer incentives for SMEs to report and reduce their emissions.
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