Development Bank of Wales Leads UK with First-of-Its-Kind Green Finance Pilot

The Development Bank of Wales has become the first bank in the UK to pilot Perseus, a groundbreaking initiative designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) automate energy reporting, enhance decarbonisation planning, and unlock access to green finance.

Led by the not-for-profit Icebreaker One, Perseus is an industry-led scheme developed in collaboration with key stakeholders including the British Business Bank, Institute of Directors, NatWest and Barclays. The Development Bank of Wales is now leading the way in piloting the programme, embedding Perseus into its due diligence processes for green business loans.

SMEs are responsible for approximately 50% of business-driven emissions across the UK, presenting significant opportunities to reduce environmental impact through energy efficiency and smart switching. Perseus addresses one of the key challenges for SMEs—access to actionable data—by enabling them to share smart meter data with carbon accounting providers, financial institutions, and lenders, while maintaining full control over its use.

By facilitating automated reporting and offering the data transparency required by lenders, Perseus is positioned to significantly increase the flow of green finance to UK SMEs, potentially at more favourable rates.

Rebecca Evans, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning, welcomed the news:

“The Development Bank being named as the UK’s first bank to use Perseus further demonstrates Wales’ commitment to promoting sustainable business and securing a low carbon economy. It’s an important milestone for the Development Bank and we are pleased to see them taking a lead role in making it easier for UK SMEs to access green financing so that we can support their productivity and reduce emissions.”

Gavin Starks, CEO of Icebreaker One, added:

“This milestone takes us from use case to case study—showing that unlocking access to data, with the permission of the customer, can help get green finance flowing to SMEs. It’s a major proof point that the Perseus Scheme can enable trusted smart data to flow between SMEs, carbon accounting platforms, and banks—and help accelerate access to billions on the race to zero.”

Matthew Kelly, Sustainability Manager at the Development Bank of Wales, said:

“This is a first of its kind pilot, using technology to drive down the business burden of reporting for SMEs and increase the accuracy of carbon abatement assessment and monitoring. We believe that Perseus will help scale green finance by giving us access to assurable, trustworthy data. It means that SMEs will get the capital that they need to boost their productivity while decarbonising, therefore helping us to get to net zero faster.”

The Perseus pilot remains ongoing, engaging banks, SMEs, and carbon accounting partners across the UK.

For more information about joining Perseus, visit icebreakerone.org/perseus.