Taking this year's ESG innovation of the year award for research is renewables investment specialist Bluefield Partners for its collaborative circular economy research project, ERALD, with Lancaster University.

The project has been part-funded by the Bluefield Solar Income Fund, the London Stock Exchange-listed, solar-focused, closed-end fund for which Bluefield Partners is investment manager.

The ERALD (End of Renewable Asset Life Decisions) Project aims to address the challenges of managing end-of-life photovoltaic (PV) systems, particularly in the UK.

The first phase of the project, completed in November 2024, focused on the development of a 'materials passport' for a new build solar farm, Bluefield's Yelvertoft Solar Farm. The first phase was undertaken with a view to creating a generic materials passport template and toolkit implementation guide for solar farms across the industry.

The second phase of the project will aim to identify best practices and challenges related to recycling, reuse, and the design of renewable assets for the circular economy.

One Sustainable Investment Awards judge complimented the "interesting" project for seeking to address "an important and often overlooked issue".

Another echoed this sentiment, calling it an "excellent project solving a very real problem and praising it for being "very innovative, yet simple".