RBS invested £1bn in green energy projects in 2016, touts LED lighting loans

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money-trolley-resizedRBS says it lent more than £1bn to sustainable energy projects and customers in 2016.

Announcing that it is on track to achieve its target of lending £3bn to the sector between 2015 and 2017, the bank touted its ability to finance schemes such as LED lighting via a case study for national newsagents, McColls.

The firm sought to reduce lighting costs across its 1,300 stores, so RBS lent it £2.7m to do so after a providing finance options and details of suitable LED lighting suppliers via asset finance division, Lombard.

The loan allowed McColls to spread the cost of the rollout and keep working capital within the business. Meanwhile the new lighting will save an estimated to save 35% on lighting costs, representing an 11% saving on overall electricity costs. That equates to savings of around £1m per year, giving the project a payback period of just over two and a half years.

The LED lighting will also cut McColls carbon footprint by around 1,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.

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