Join the Green Revolution with the help of the Accelerator programme
15 October 2025
Small and medium sized firms have increased their green growth engagement in the last year, according to the findings of joint research published in October 2025 by East Midlands Chamber and the University of Derby.
Now in its tenth year, the research ‘Green Growth Trends in the East Midlands’ tracks and analyses awareness and engagement with green growth, decarbonisation and the uptake of nature-based solutions (NBS). Since the research began in 2015, engagement in green growth has tripled amongst East Midlands businesses. In the last twelve months alone, take up of decarbonisation – which can be defined as switching from the use of fossil fuels to carbon-free and renewable energy sources – has risen by 2.7% and has been adopted by nearly half (48.1%) of the region’s businesses.
Decarbonisation can take many forms and can often be easily achievable and lead to significant savings on energy bills, including:
- Reducing energy consumption such as better insulation and draft proofing, switching to LED lighting and implementing smart heating controls.
- Switching to renewal energy resources including adopting sustainable transport like electric cars, vans and lorries, and installing solar panels.
- Optimising production processes such as switching to energy-efficient appliances and installing condition monitoring sensors such as vibration and acceleration sensors to catch early signs of deterioration of machinery.
- Minimising waste such as adopting smarter habits including turning lights and appliances off at the mains when not in use, and better heating and lighting management of spaces that are largely unused.
A helping hand is on offer from the Accelerator project to guide businesses through the steps that are needed and the support to get there.
