London capital firm and Welsh bank invest £5.5m in net zero housing specialist

Legal & General Capital and Hodge have announced their £5.5m investment into Sero Technologies, an energy technology and services company supporting the transition to net zero across the residential housing sector.

Sero has developed industry leading digital tools and expertise to design and deliver cost effective low carbon solutions for both new build and existing homes.

Sero works with landlords, mortgage lenders, housebuilders and more, to plot a pathway to net zero for their homes, providing the option of ongoing optimisation to ensure a good outcome for customers.

Heating and hot water for UK homes make up 25 per cent of total energy use and 15 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.

To achieve the UK’s legally mandated target of net zero by 2050, almost every home in the country will need to be improved or retrofitted with some combination of enhanced energy efficiency and low carbon heating.

Retrofit represents a significant market opportunity in the UK, with the average home emitting nearly 6 tonnes of carbon per year, 23m homes using mains gas for heating, 2m homes electrically heated and the remaining 2m using heating oil or other fossil fuel systems.

John Bromley, head of clean energy at Legal & General Capital, commented: “Housing is a major contributor to carbon emissions, requiring some of the most challenging and immediate overhauls of any sector.

“We are delighted, therefore, to be investing in a business that will play a major role in putting UK housing on a pathway to net zero, whilst providing significant job creation in the clean energy sector and supporting the UK’s SMEs.

“As an energy transition investor, we are aiming to support the scale up of innovative businesses capable of delivering the solutions needed to reduce emissions throughout the economy, and Sero represents another perfect partner for us in this space.”

David Landen, chief executive officer at Hodge, said: “I’m delighted to be able to announce Hodge’s investment in Sero. Our homes are one of the largest contributors to the UK’s carbon emissions and all new and existing homes will need to evolve to enable us to meet our 2050 net zero carbon target.”