The first ever government-backed ‘green transition loan’ has been awarded to Aberdeen-based engineering and consultancy firm Wood to pursue new clean growth export opportunities.
A £430 million commercial loan will be supported by an 80% Transition Export Development Guarantee (EDG) from UK Export Finance, the government’s export credit agency.
The Transition EDG supports bank loans for UK companies actively working to transition their business away from fossil fuels.
Green jobs
International trade secretary Liz Truss said the guarantee will support thousands of green jobs.
“Green trade presents a major economic opportunity for Britain that will drive high-value jobs in every part of the nation,” she said.
“Wood has already made great strides in repositioning its business for a low-carbon future,” she added. “I am delighted it is the first company to energise its clean growth plans using UKEF’s new Transition Export Development Guarantee.”
Accelerate growth
Wood will use the funds to accelerate its growth by investing in future low carbon growth areas linked to energy transition in the UK and abroad.
The loan will also fund research and development in clean growth sectors.
Under the agreement, Wood will increase its clean growth portfolio and significantly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions over the five-year tenure of the facility, UKEF announced.
Energy Voice reports that Wood employs nearly 7,000 people across the UK and generates nearly £400m annually from its exports. The company expects its export revenue, related to low-carbon projects, to significantly increase.
Jobs and exports
As previously covered in the IOE&IT Daily Update, the DIT’s Board of Trade has produced a Green Trade report that highlights the opportunities to export British innovation and know-how in green industries around the world.
The reports says that the UK can become a green leader and that by 2050, with more than 1.2 million full-time workers employed in the UK’s low carbon industries in England and the UK’s low carbon economy growing by 11% per year.
The UK is hosting the UN climate change conference, COP26 in Glasgow from 31 October and the UK is aligning its free trade agenda behind green exports, which the government expects to deliver up to £170bn of export sales in goods and services for the UK by 2030.