More public buildings and businesses will benefit from over half a billion pounds in funding to help reduce their energy bills and carbon emissions.

Schools, pools, and hospitals will be supported to make energy efficient upgrades, with over £557 million government investment. The new projects will help reduce emissions and cut bills, as part of the government’s plan to reach its net zero targets.

Heat pumps, solar panels, insulation and low-energy lighting will be rolled out to reduce the use of fossil fuels across the public sector and strengthen the UK’s energy independence.

Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance Lord Callanan said: “From school corridors to the businesses that power up our economy, we want to make sure buildings of all shapes and sizes are supported to deliver net zero.

“By allocating over £557 million today, we are standing steadfast behind our public sector and local businesses, providing the help they need to make the switch to cleaner, homegrown energy.

“This will not only help cut bills in the long term, but ensure we keep reducing our emissions – having already led the world by halving them since 1990.”

Over 1,000 projects have now received funding since 2020 to upgrade thousands of buildings through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, with the government also announcing the award of £27.5 million from the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund to support businesses with high energy use to reduce their bills and carbon emissions.

Today’s announcements demonstrate further progress towards the government’s commitment to spend more than £12 billion on energy efficiency by 2028, helping even more organisations and businesses to benefit from cleaner, more secure energy.

Salix chief executive Emma Clancy said: “The climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges of our time. It requires all of us, including governments and businesses, to make change and reduce our carbon footprint.

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“The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme enables the public sector to tap into a fund which can transform our public buildings. These are the sites we use every day; our schools, universities, leisure centres and others will become more energy efficient as well as being comfortable places to use thanks to this funding.

“Every day our teams at Salix work with the public sector to achieve ambitious net zero goals and we’re looking forward to working with the latest successful Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme grant recipients.

“Together we will continue to take positive action to address our impact on the climate.”