Welsh Gov · Cadwyn Clwyd
40 SME cohort
Bilingual EN/Cym
Net Zero Horizons was a Welsh Government-funded cohort programme delivered for 40 SMEs across the Colomendy Industrial Estate in Denbighshire. Funded by the UK Government Levelling Up Fund, Denbighshire County Council and Cadwyn Clwyd. The programme delivered a full carbon baseline across the estate, a bilingual EN/Cym training stack, a bid-writing pipeline that secured £343,457 of funding, and a five-year savings trajectory of £248,283 and 737 tCO2e.
SMEs supported
tCO2e mapped
People trained
Funding secured
The brief
Net Zero Horizons was commissioned to take 40 SMEs across the Colomendy Industrial Estate from no formal sustainability footing to net-zero ready in one coordinated programme. The Welsh SME base on Colomendy is typical of the wider economy – owner-managed, multi-generational, lean teams, no in-house sustainability function. 85% had never written a funding bid before. Only 2% had any prior sustainability training.
Funded by Cadwyn Clwyd, the UK Government Levelling Up Fund, and Denbighshire County Council. Delivered bilingually in English and Welsh.
40
Across the Colomendy Industrial Estate – manufacturing, plant hire, hospitality, animal health, materials, self-storage and more.
1,492.54
Full carbon baseline across the cohort. Scope 1: 692.35. Scope 2: 244.25. Scope 3: 555.94. The first complete picture of the estate’s footprint.
256
Workforce sustainability training across the cohort – bilingual EN/Cym. 14 new courses designed and 124 licences allocated through the programme.
£343,457
Bid-writing pipeline delivered nine wins from twelve submissions. £300,000+ invested in renewable tech across the estate as a direct result.
Inside the cohort — six SMEs we worked with
01
The self-storage operator headquartered on Colomendy. Building-fabric, PV and lighting review across the estate. Costed PV + LED rollout with a three-route funding map. Lock Stock now run our flagship Sustainability Package on a 12-month renewing basis.
02
Animal-health manufacturer. Cold-chain and process-energy review. Awarded the Climate Positive Organisation Award in June 2024 – the first business on the estate to reach that benchmark.
03
Welsh hospitality group. Energy baseline and heat-decarb feasibility. Outcome: a costed LPG-to-heat-pump transition plan across three sites, packaged for a Welsh Gov funding application.
04
Welsh agri-services SME. Fleet, fuel and supply-chain emissions baseline. Outcome: a phased EV transition plan and a customer-facing carbon narrative built for sustainability-weighted tender wins.
05
Plant and equipment hire operator on Colomendy. Fleet emissions baseline, fuel-switching feasibility and a phased low-carbon plant-replacement plan. Funding pipeline secured against the highest-impact upgrades.
06
Stone-cutting and granite manufacturer. Process-energy and embodied-carbon review across the workshop floor. Outcome: a costed efficiency programme and a customer-facing carbon narrative aligned to Foundational Economy procurement.
The cohort architecture
Launch across board, executive, senior leadership and the sustainability champions network. Strategic context, SBTi alignment, leadership behaviours. Sets the tone before the wider rollout.
Role-specific modules deployed across manufacturing operations, commercial, supply chain, marketing, brand and support functions. Multi-site, in cadence with the operational calendar.
Refresh modules, behaviour-change reinforcement, manager-led conversations, evidence pack for ISS / CDP / TCFD disclosure. Capability transfer to the in-house team.
Re-run on the existing architecture, refreshed against year-on-year SBTi progress.
Five-year trajectory
£49,656
Direct operational savings across the 40-SME cohort in the first year of delivery – energy, fuel, waste and process efficiency.
147
Year-one carbon reduction across the cohort, against the 1,492.54 tCO₂e baseline. Verified through the post-programme cycle.
£248,283
Projected operational savings over five years on the moves already costed and committed across the cohort. Excludes upside from further bids.
737
Projected five-year carbon reduction. 78 jobs safeguarded across the estate as a direct outcome of the programme.
"It was the first sustainability programme on the estate where the people delivering it actually understood what running a Welsh SME looks like. We came out with a plan we could afford, a funder lined up, and our team properly trained. Bilingual delivery mattered for our staff too."
If you’re a Local Authority, Growth Hub, RSP or sector body looking to deliver something like Net Zero Horizons in your region – we’d love to talk. The architecture is replicable across any UK estate or cluster.
Get in touch with the One Earth Education team!
