Innovate UK has £5 million in funding available and is inviting small businesses to compete for funding to help them demonstrate and deploy innovative solutions that integrate climate and environmental factors into financial services.
Investors need to be aware of the chief risks of climate change-caused environmental degradation, such as physical risks to supply chains and property from natural disasters;
the risk of litigation to businesses who contribute to damage to nature; or transition risk, when investments do not fit with socioeconomic or political shifts toward net zero.
The competition will fund companies to develop cutting-edge solutions for greening finance and to trial these solutions with partners in the finance industry.
In the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition, no match funding is required and successful organisations win a contract for developing their innovation. The two-round competition will make awards of £50,000 in the first round to define a minimum viable product and £1 million in the second round to refine and deploy a solution with a formal industry partner.
The closing date for applications is 16 February. More information here