Fairness matters for delivering Net Zero
To tackle climate change, we need to deploy emission saving technologies, like solar panels, extremely quickly. But we mustn’t do so in ways that are unfair.
Solutions are needed that benefit everyone. Not just those who can afford the technologies and who live in the right type of property to have them installed.
Our Team
Reg Platt,
Founder CEO
A career-long campaigner-entrepreneur on climate change and energy affordability who prior to Emergent has launched community initiatives, changed national energy regulation, markets and policy from a think tank role, and brought to market a local energy partnership offer for a major energy supplier.
Connect with or follow Reg on LinkedIn.
Phillip Leicester,
Lead Developer
An advanced energy system scientist, expert in simulating complex integrations of solar PV, battery systems, heat pumps, and national electricity markets, resident at the Wolfson Engineering School Centre for Renewable Energy Systems (CREST) at Loughborough University.
Fouzan Ali,
Strategic Advisor
A proven entrepreneur and scale-up executive who founded and led Kantan, a tradesperson marketplace that is now a subsidiary of a major energy supplier. Previously led the commercial functions for Uber in the UK. Product and operations specialist.
Our Backers
Fair By Design Venture Fund
Investor
Part of the Fair By Design campaign, conceived by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Big Society Capital, the fund invests in companies that are developing products to make markets fairer. Ascension, a leading UK seed stage social impact investor, manages the fund.
Ian Peters
Investor
A widely represented board appointee with a wealth of executive leadership experience, including CEO of British Gas and chair of several private equity owned energy transition technology companies. Ian’s non-executive portfolio also includes social housing and healthcare.
Various
Grant funders
We have been fortunate to receive funding from the Climate KIC accelerator run by Imperial College, the Climate Innovation Platform run by Birmingham University, and the Smart Local Energy Systems programme run by Innovate UK.
Why?
In a role at a prominent think tank, Emergent’s founder, Reg, was a strong advocate of locally-based approaches to decarbonising energy and improving energy affordability.
Following work with the largest city councils outside London on their ambitious energy plans he wanted to help other councils and social housing providers do more. So he brought to market an award winning local energy partnership offer for a major challenger energy supplier.
After launching and growing several of these partnerships, he came to believe that something more radical was needed for delivering Net Zero: a new type of business model where customers would not have to pay upfront for carbon saving technologies, like solar panels and battery storage. Without this new 'energy-as-a-service' approach he saw many households would miss out on the benefits of the new technologies and public support for decarbonisation could fall away.
When he spotted how an overlooked aspect of energy regulation enabled a new energy-as-a-service approach at the scale of local communities, he founded Emergent to bring this new business model to market.