Green technologies and environmental services: August 2026 trends and news
Read time: 5 minutes
Read time: 5 minutes
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Following July’s round-up of green technology and environmental services trends, this update looks at where the latest market signals point to practical growth opportunities for UK green-tech businesses and environmental service providers. It also underlines why climate adaptation, clean air and low-carbon infrastructure are now becoming business-critical issues, not simply policy ambitions.
Read the previous article in this series: Green technologies and environmental services: July business news.
Key markets: climate adaptation, home energy, EV charging, storage, heat networks and waste compliance
Main insight: Growth will favour businesses that link technology to resilience, cost savings, clean air and compliance outcomes.
Reports of stretched fire services, drought conditions and rising wildfire risk in the UK show how climate impacts are becoming more immediate for communities, public bodies and businesses. For green technology and environmental services providers, that strengthens the case for solutions that reduce emissions while also helping places adapt: monitoring, land and water management, resilient infrastructure, building upgrades, nature-based solutions and emergency-planning support.
Residential clean energy is becoming an integrated sales opportunity
In this month’s business news round-up, residential clean energy is one of the clearest growth signals. MCS recorded 210,000 certified installations in the first half of 2026, up 17% on the previous record. Solar installations approached 150,000 and battery installations reached 36,000 - almost the whole of 2025 annual battery total in six months. Crucially, 92% of battery installations were fitted to properties with solar. The sale is shifting from an individual product to an integrated home-energy proposition.
That creates opportunities across design, installation, finance, monitoring, maintenance and optimisation. It also changes the sales conversation. Customers are not simply buying panels or a battery; they are buying lower bills, resilience and control. Providers able to quantify those outcomes, simplify the buying journey and bundle complementary technologies should be well positioned.
Lola is a specialist in market intelligence, research and analytics. She works with businesses in the green technologies and environmental services sector, identifying growth strategies including new market entry, sales opportunities and competitor analysis.
New plug-in solar products could further broaden the residential market by lowering the cost and complexity of entry for households that cannot commit to a full rooftop installation. That may create competition at the lower end of domestic solar, but it could also expand the number of solar-engaged customers who later need batteries, EV charging, smart controls and more sophisticated home-energy advice.
Electric mobility is also expanding the addressable market. Battery-electric registrations rose 44.5% year on year in July and represented 27.5% of new-car sales. While the market remains below the full mandate trajectory, the volume growth supports demand for chargepoint installation, depot and workplace charging, grid connections, energy management, maintenance and fleet-transition advice.
Clean transport also has a stronger public-health story. Research on London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone found that improvements in air quality were linked to better lung growth and function among children, reinforcing the wider value proposition for businesses working in EV charging, fleet transition, clean-air planning and urban decarbonisation.
The strongest sales opportunities will often sit at the interface between technologies. EV charging can lead to conversations about solar, batteries, tariffs and demand management. Solar customers can be moved towards storage and smart controls. Retrofit projects can open doors to low-carbon heating, ventilation and building controls. Green-tech firms that organise around customer outcomes rather than product silos can increase both conversion and lifetime value – explore our networking events to establish collaborations with local experts across other technologies.
Public investment is creating a further pipeline. The government £28 million Ultra-Long Duration Energy Storage Challenge will support advanced batteries and underground hydrogen storage capable of delivering electricity for at least 100 hours. For innovators, this brings direct funding opportunities. For manufacturers, engineering firms, test facilities and specialist advisers, it also creates supply-chain, partnership and demonstration opportunities.
Heat networks add another infrastructure-led opportunity. Energy UK and the Heat Networks Industry Council have argued that targeted public investment could provide the certainty needed to unlock billions in private capital and support growth over the next decade. For environmental services and low-carbon heat businesses, this points to opportunities in feasibility, design, engineering, project development, local authority engagement, customer engagement and long-term operation.
The government’s crackdown on illegal waste sites adds another important environmental services angle to this month’s update. Tighter enforcement should increase pressure on poor performers, but it also creates opportunities for legitimate waste, resource management and environmental compliance businesses that can help customers demonstrate responsible handling, traceability and regulatory confidence.
This coincides with Carriers, Brokers and Dealers Registration being replaced with three new activities; waste controlling activity, waste transporting activity and waste controlling-transporting activity requiring operators to have an environmental permit or a registered exemption.
Demand is also likely to increase for waste audits, site assessments, compliance support, circular economy advice, materials recovery, data reporting and services that help businesses reduce waste risk across their operations and supply chains.
However, not every technology is growing evenly. MCS reported that heat-pump installations were lower than the first half of 2025, with a large share supported by government programmes. That is a reminder to stress-test market assumptions, monitor the impact of incentives, diversify routes to market and build propositions that can survive changes in funding, regulation or consumer behaviour.
Capacity may become as important as demand. Growing markets require skilled installers, designers, salespeople and project managers. Firms should map the capabilities needed for the next 12-24 months, build partnerships where recruitment will be slow, and use evidence - case studies, performance data and customer references - to reduce perceived risk in the sales process.
As with the July update, the message for green technology and environmental services businesses is clear: opportunity is widening, but growth will not be won by technology alone. The strongest propositions will connect climate resilience, clean air, low-carbon heat, distributed energy, responsible waste management and customer savings into measurable outcomes. Growth will go to businesses that articulate that value, build trusted delivery capacity and move quickly into the gaps created by infrastructure, skills, compliance pressure and customer uncertainty.
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