Scottish Funding Council schemes

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) with assistance from our teams at Salix, provides accessible support and finance in the form of low-interest loans for capital investments. These are made in response to the climate emergency and to build capacity for funding in additional years, benefitting both students and staff.

All funding awarded is to be directed towards climate emergency projects, which meet one or more of the criteria and deliver key project outcomes. 

We have delivered the project support contract for the Scottish Funding Council across three separate schemes in the past. 

• University Carbon Reduction Fund 2017/2018
• Universities for the Future programme 2019/2020 
• University Financial Transactions Programme 2021/2022

All programmes aimed at significantly reducing the Scottish university sector’s carbon footprint and institutions were encouraged to submit proposals that would showcase innovation and sustainability across the sector. 

Across all three schemes, the Scottish Funding Council has made up to £107.8m available to universities to facilitate investment in energy efficiency and decarbonisation projects across 11 higher education institutions across Scotland. 

• We offer support in both the monitoring and delivery of Scottish Funding Council projects.
• The loans are interest-free.
• The latest scheme has no specific compliancy criteria, such as payback or carbon cost per tonne.
• No maximum loan value for applications.
• Networking and knowledge sharing with other public sector energy and finance peers.