our impact: prosperity
At Low Carbon Hub, we’re passionate about building a sustainable future for Oxfordshire. We do this by putting the power in the hands of local communities.
Our mission is to create a decentralised, community-owned network of renewable energy projects. This means local people benefit directly through:
Local ownership: Community members become stakeholders in local energy, fostering a sense of empowerment and control.
Collective wealth: Profits from the sale of clean energy are reinvested back into the community, funding local initiatives.
Clean energy future: By embracing renewable sources, we reduce reliance on fossil fuels and create a cleaner, healthier environment for everyone.
Low Carbon Hub goes beyond just generating clean energy; we’re building a sustainable future, together. So delivering prosperity to our stakeholders is vital to our future and for this reason, we measure it as one of our key impacts, alongside Planet, People and Perception.
Who benefits?
The financial income from our renewable energy installations is shared with the following groups:
Our investors
Low Carbon Hub is powered by our community of investors, who, have collectively invested over more than £10 million to help fund the upfront costs of our renewable energy installations. In return for providing the capital that funds our renewable projects, we offer our investors a modest interest payment in return for their support – in the 23/24 financial year, we’re pleased to have paid over £456,000 in interest to them, as a thank you for their long-term commitment to our work
Our solar hosts
Another group vital to our success are the schools and businesses across Oxfordshire that host our solar arrays on their roofs. Our solar hosts have the panels installed at no cost to themselves; however, they benefit from the clean energy generated on their buildings, reducing their carbon footprint, and reducing energy bills. In the 23/24 year, we helped our our solar hosts save £153,000.
Community Benefit Fund
We believe that community-owned energy should work to benefit the entire community. So all profits go into community benefit initiatives that support carbon-cutting activity in Oxfordshire and beyond. This year, we’ve hit a major milestone with over £1 million of our own project surpluses having been spent on delivering benefits to the Oxfordshire community.
The community benefit fund benefits the local community in a number of ways:
- Our network of 46 low-carbon community groups receive grants to encourage further local action on climate change. You can see examples of grants in action here.
- A wide range of direct programmes have been funded, each helping our community become more energy efficient and helping tackle the climate crisis at neighbourhood levels.
You can read more about how our £1 million in community benefit is being spent in this blog post.
Looking to the future
At Low Carbon Hub, we’re constantly innovating and expanding. As we map out the future, we will continue to grow our portfolio of renewable energy installations, enabling us to:
Fuel prosperity: our renewable energy projects generate a steady stream of income that benefits the entire community.
Empower the local community: Every new installation strengthens our network of community-owned projects, putting the power – and the profits – in the hands of local people.
Drive sustainability: The more renewable energy we generate, the less we rely on fossil fuels. This creates a cleaner, healthier environment for all.
Read more about our impact on People and Planet for the financial year 2023/24.