Italy-UK Partnership

FROM THE CHAMBERS | 21 generous capital contracts and huge export income opportunities. Its energy transition is encouraged by financial support which companies can access, generating the necessary conditions to attract investment in low-carbon projects. Within the most important programmes we can find: • Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP), which aims to support improvements to the energy efficiency of homes, businesses and public buildings. £500m are at disposal to support the adoption of low carbon heating and energy efficiency measures; • Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP), whose objective is to help Scotland’s transition to a low-carbon economy through a fund of £60m to assist the development and delivery of private, public and community low-carbon projects across the country; • The £20m Energy Investment Fund provides commercial funding for renewable and low carbon energy solutions, through gap-funding those projects that have a demonstrable gap in their funding project; • Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), a £45m scheme that has supported six hundred local projects since 2013 and that aims to an extensive expansion in the number of shared ownership energy installations in Scotland; • Wave Energy Scotland, an ambitious procurement programme supporting projects focused on the key systems and subsystems of Wave Energy Converters. With over £38m, it has supported about eight projects since 2014. Scotland also has a flourishing ecosystem to develop new projects connected to low carbon and sustainable economy. Scotland’s Energy Technology Partnership, for instance, is the biggest most broad-based energy research partnership in Europe working in R&D and commercialisation in the energy sector. The Power Networks Demonstration Centre connects stakeholders through every stage of the innovation process within its remarkable unit, allowing highly realistic and accelerated technology tests and different other research projects. The European Marine Energy Centre’s mission is to reduce time, cost and risk associated with the development of marine energy technologies, for both wave and tidal energy converters in some of the harshest marine environments. Some other examples include the ORE Catapult, which brings together industry and academia to drive innovation in renewable energy, the National HVDC Centre, the UK’s only simulation and training facility designed to support and de-risk projects for all High Voltage Direct Current schemes, and the Water Test Network which gives businesses access to water test facilities across north-west Europe. THE ICCIUK’S SUPPORT TO COMPANIES INTERESTED IN THE SECTOR Our Chamber of Commerce, through its Scottish branch, is ready to take up the challenge and play a leading role in view of the opportunities offered by the approaching COP26, also made possible by the favourable situation created by this new partnership between Italy and the UK. Discussions are underway with our local partners, including the Scottish Government, the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and the Glasgow City Council. The Scottish Branch is already developing a project with an Italian, green economy start-up to test an innovative planting system able to enhance the natural capabilities of bamboo to absorb up to 35% of CO2 than average trees. This planting system is particularly recommended for busy urban areas, where pollution is higher, and the partners are aiming to test it in the two main cities during the Conference itself. The Chamber’s Scottish branch is available to support Italian businesses interested in knowing more about opportunities in the green energy sector in Scotland, providing general information, experts’ advice, and details on B2B meetings or fairs to attend. ·