The Icon

In his thought piece for ICON, Stephen Muers, CEO of Big Society Capital, looks back at the journey social impact-led investment has taken.   Social impact investment has a long history. One of the earliest examples of social investment in the UK is the Sir Thomas White Loan Charity in Leicester, which was founded in 1542 to make loans to local...

A new report from National Grid, delivered in partnership with the transport and freight industries, shows that zero emission HGVs (either fully electric or hydrogen-fuelled) will require similar connections to the electricity transmission system, and in similar locations required by cars and vans. Since 2019, National Grid has been working closely with Government and industry on developing charging infrastructure to...

The Ofgem Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme (Energy Redress Scheme) has opened the first funding round in phase two of the scheme. A total of £27 million is available as grants to charities and community energy groups that support households most at risk from cold homes and high energy bills across England, Scotland and Wales. Projects should also focus on enabling...

According to University of Sussex Business School researchers, 'potentially transformative technologies' such as stratospheric aerosol injection or albedo management have received less than £1 in £500 of climate research funding over the past 30 years. In the meantime, even established climate change responses such as industrial decarbonisation have received just a third of the research funding for climate change adaption...

Self-charging smartwatches and health trackers could be a step closer following the development of tiny mechanical devices powered by movement, a study suggests. The new mechanisms – which are described as 'twice as powerful as similar existing devices' – could offer an energy-efficient and sustainable alternative to batteries used in wearable technologies, researchers say. Engineers from the University of Edinburgh have...

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has published a guide to support industry to retrofit the UK’s poorly performing commercial buildings. From 2025, every commercial building in the UK will require an energy performance certificate (EPC) which rates its energy efficiency from grade A to G. The Government is seeking to strengthen these standards and has proposed that all commercial properties...

Climate change has already caused a rapid and extensive warming of Scotland’s lochs and reservoirs with impacts expected to intensify, research has revealed for the first time. A report by Scotland’s Centre of Expertise for Waters shows that 97% of monitored Scottish lochs and reservoirs have increased in temperature between 2015 and 2019. While most warmed by up to 1.0°C per...

The European Commission has announced the 100 EU cities that will participate in the EU Mission for 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030, the so-called Cities Mission. The 100 cities come from all 27 Member States, with 12 additional cities coming from countries associated or with the potential of being associated to Horizon Europe, the EU's research and innovation...

Ofwat, the water regulator for England and Wales, has awarded funding to the winners of the second Water Breakthrough Challenge, called the Transform Stream, which focused on 'large-scale, long-term, game-changing innovations.' The winners include innovative projects that reduce leakage, improve household water efficiency and turn carbon dioxide into useful products like paint and fertiliser. John Russell, Senior Director, Strategy, Finance and...

Organic aerosols, such as those released in cooking, may stay in the atmosphere for several days because of nanostructures formed by fatty acids as they are released into the air, new research finds. By identifying the processes that control how these aerosols are transformed in the atmosphere, scientists will be able to better understand and predict their impact on the...