The green jobs call is part of a series of funding rounds that will open and close for applications periodically. The first call was delayed until 27 May 2021. It offers funding of between £50,000 and £500,000 to help Scottish businesses to:
- create green jobs (new jobs that relate directly to the transition to net zero) or facilitate the transition of a job from non-green to green
- minimise environmental impacts by developing sustainable low carbon products or services
Green jobs are:
- jobs in businesses that produce goods or provide services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources
- jobs in which workers’ duties involve making their establishment’s production processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources
This is a competitive funding call and not emergency COVID-19 funding. Applications will be assessed against a number of criteria, and only those that are expected to have the biggest economic or environmental impact will be successful.
To be eligible, your project will need to:
- create long-term green jobs that can be sustained after the project has finished
- have a clear need for funding – for example, without funding it would take significantly longer, be scaled back or not go ahead at all
- require a grant of at least £50,000 to go ahead
- not require more than £500,000 of grant funding to go ahead
- take place mostly in Scotland
- start by 1 October 2021
- end by 30 September 2024
Your business must:
- be registered or trading in the Scottish Enterprise area or looking to set up a trading location in this area before 1 October 2021 (you’ll find more information about this on the Scottish Enterprise website)
- be a registered company (a company that’s registered with Companies House)
- be an individual business – this fund isn’t open to collaborations
- not be able to fund the full project on your own (for example, difficulty securing enough finance elsewhere)
- be committed to fair working practices. Fair work is work that offers all individuals an effective voice, opportunity, security, fulfilment and respect. It also includes paying employees at least the real Living Wage (currently £9.50 in Scotland). You can find out more and access free resources using the Fair Work Employer Support Tool
If your business operates in any of the following sectors or activities, you will not be eligible for this call:
- banking, insurance or sub-prime lending
- gambling
- adult entertainment
- tobacco
- locally traded services (these are businesses whose trade is limited to a local area, and whose direct competitors are other local businesses)
Some businesses may also only be eligible for funding for R&D activities and will not be eligible for capital investment. You’ll find more information about this on the Scottish Enterprise website.
This funding call can fund between 10% and 50% of eligible project costs, so you Will need to fund some of the project yourself or through other finance sources.
The call also involves a claims process, so if you are successful in securing funding, you will need to pay for your costs up front and claim them back from your grant.
The application itself should take between 30 minutes to an hour to complete, but please be aware that you also need to provide additional evidence such as a project plan, business plan, financial forecasts and annual accounts. Depending on whether you need to create these from scratch or contact us for the relevant information, this could add extra time onto your application.
You don’t need to complete the full application at once and can save and return any time before the closing date.
The call will close at 12 noon on 24 June 2021. Applicants should find out whether or not they have been successful by the end of August, and successful applicants should get their offer letters by the end of September.