South African businesses are being encouraged to become more energy efficient in a new project launched by the National Business Initiative (NBI).

The group which promotes sustainable growth in the country has been awarded £8.6 million by the UK’s Department for International Development to fund its Private Sector Energy Efficiency (PSEE) scheme.

It’s hoped more than 3,500 businesses of all sizes will eventually get involved in the project, saving 4,000 GWh of energy and 3.6 million tonnes of carbon emissions over its lifetime.

Joanne Yawitch, CEO at the NBI said: “The [scheme] is targeted to work with about 60 large companies and just over 1000 medium sized companies to support the awareness and uptake of best practice in energy management and energy efficiency by South African industry.”

Smaller companies will get remote advice, mid-sized firms will be given face-to-face technical support and large businesses will have access to longer-term help focused on energy management and strategies.

The project will be run by a steering committee led by South Africa’s Department of Energy. The UK’s Carbon Trust will lend a hand to the project with technical support based on its experience with similar schemes in Britain.

The scheme is set to run until March 2015.