Low emission zone support fund for businesses

Low emission zones in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee are in effect. Low emission zones are designed to improve local air quality by discouraging older, more polluting vehicles from entering the zone. 

For more information, please visit our low emission zone webpage. 

The low emission zone support fund is funded by Transport Scotland and administered by Energy Saving Trust. It offers an incentive for eligible businesses to take their older, more polluting vehicles off the road. 

Grants of £2,000 are available to sole traders and micro businesses with nine or fewer full-time employees. Successful applicants will be required to dispose of their vehicle at a  Scottish authorised treatment facility. A grant offer must be in place prior to vehicle disposal. 

Following vehicle disposal and successful receipt of the fund, eligible businesses may be offered an additional £1,000 towards the purchase of a purpose built cargo or electric cargo bike only, to support your specific business needs.

Please note, funding is limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you’d like to apply for funding, please complete our self-referral form to check eligibility.

Before you complete the form, please review the eligibility criteria. 

Apply now

If your answers indicate you may be eligible, you will receive a link to the full application form by email.

You  MUST NOT scrap your vehicle until you have received and accepted a grant offer letter from Energy Saving Trust confirming your grant award, otherwise your offer will be withdrawn. 

For guidance on the fund application and disposal process, see the diagram below. 

To be eligible for the low emission zone support fund, you must meet all of the following criteria (you can also download the eligibility criteria).

1. Your business must have an operating site within 20km of a low emission zone. If you are unsure, please review the diagrams provided in the eligibility criteria document.
2. Your business must own a vehicle that does not meet the minimum emissions standards of low emission zones:

• Euro 3 or older petrol vehicles – this generally applies to those registered before 2006. 
• Euro 5 or older diesel vehicles – this generally applies to those registered before September 2015. 

You can use the vehicle checker to see whether your vehicle would be allowed to enter a zone. 

3. The vehicle must hold a current MOT, be fully taxed and cannot hold SORN status. If you are unsure, you can check online if your vehicle is taxed and its MOT status.
4. The vehicle must be registered in the name of the business owner or under the business name as stated on the submitted application.
5. You must have owned the vehicle before 17 September 2020 and utilise it for business operational purposes.
6. Your business must be an active micro business or a sole trader. To fit this definition, you must:

• Employ nine or fewer full-time employees. 
• Have a turnover of £632,000 or less, or a balance sheet of up to £316,000 in the preceding and current financial year. 

7. The low emission zone support fund cannot be used in conjunction with Transport Scotland’s switched on taxis loan or low carbon transport loan. This is a standalone fund, and the applicant must not apply for additional funding until six months following grant payment from the low emission zone support fund. In addition, the applicant must not have received funding from these programmes six months prior to applying.
8. A business may apply to dispose of a maximum of three vehicles under this fund. If a business has previously received funding for three vehicles through the low emission zone retrofit fund, they are unable to apply for further funding through the support fund. 
9. You must commit to replacing the vehicle with a zone compliant model if a replacement vehicle is required for business needs. Energy Saving Trust retain the right to withhold funding payment until evidence of compliant vehicle purchase is provided.

This fund has been made available to help applicants avoid low emission zone penalties by moving away from non-compliant vehicles and choosing more sustainable travel options or replacement vehicles that meet the low emission zone standards. 

If you would like additional information on the scheme, please email: LEZfund@est.org.uk 

If you’ve successfully claimed the low emission zone support fund but could not apply for Travel Better funding before the closing date, you will be invited to apply if and when a new round of funding is made available.  Please be aware we cannot guarantee funding will be available in any future financial year.

You MUST NOT purchase any item to be funded through the Travel Better Fund until you have received and accepted a grant offer letter from Energy Saving Trust confirming your grant award, otherwise your offer will be withdrawn.

If you successfully claim the low emission zone support fund and choose to move towards sustainable travel, we can reimburse your business up to £1,000 towards the purchase of a purpose built cargo or electric cargo (ecargo) bike option. 

Eligible travel measures include: 

Please refer to the below diagram for a detailed guide of the application process. 

Meet Keith and Kaori, the owners of Harajuku Kitchen, an authentic Japanese restaurant with locations in Edinburgh’s Bruntsfield, Stockbridge market and St James Quarter. In preparation for the introduction of Edinburgh’s Low Emission Zone, they took advantage of Energy Saving Trust’s Low Emission Zone Support Fund for businesses to dispose of their older, more polluting van and replace it with a newer model.

Energy Saving Trust is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This fund is subject to availability and terms and conditions for both the low emission zone support fund and travel better fund apply. 

If you’re looking for funding for households, find out more about the Low Emission Zone Support Fund for households.