The boss of an Oxford business which has developed an online platform to help manufacturers slash energy consumption is seeking investment to grow rapidly and roll out its software globally.
Manufacture 2030, or M2030, is the operating brand of 2 Degrees, which was established almost ten years ago to help manufacturers collaborate and cut environmental costs.
Its founder and executive chairman Martin Chilcott said the program was created through the 'frustration' of its attempt to grow 2 Degrees.
"We were using the wrong technologies and wrong approach," he added. "What we were trying to do was important and appreciated, but it was difficult to do it at scale.
"About three years ago we decided to take our previous experience and package it up on a software-as-a-service platform. We had huge amounts of help from manufacturers and engineers, consultants, the US Department for Energy and Cambridge University.
"We say it's built by engineers for engineers."
According to Chilcott, manufacturers produce 36 per cent of the world's greenhouse gases. And while huge companies are cutting their consumption yearly, the average business is improving by just 1 per cent per year.
"The gap is enormous," Chilcott said. He added that slashing energy consumption "doesn’t require a huge amount of money" but is about "knowing what to do".
"We've been able to take factories bobbing along at an average of 1 per cent improvement per annum and we're able to get them up to the 6 per cent mark. If we could get that scaled out across global manufacturing that could have a massive impact on greenhouse gasses."
Manufacture 2030 is seeking £250,000 from Crowdcube and at the time of writing had secured more than half the target. Chilcott also told Insider some funding is being raised from high net worth individuals.
"We want to raise money to grow rapidly and expand. Crowdcube had a great record of sustainable businesses being well-funded."
Manufacture 2030 also wants to establish what it calls 'investor champions' who can make relatively small investments, but have the network and knowledge to help the business develop further.
Chilcott told Insider the business is eyeing global expansion. "We're targeting the US as a place for growth," he added.
"We're doing very well at the moment and have a great relationship with the department for energy there. Their Better Plants programme has about 200 major manufacturers in it, giving us access through their events to showcase the product."
As well as the US, Chilcott is eyeing the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Germany and France.
He said: "We will have to invest in language localisation on the platform, which were planning for 18 months' time.
"In time, China will become important. There are also many places on the way, such as Turkey and India."