ScottishPower confirms backing for specialist lung cancer research centre

ScottishPower today announced it is to support Cancer Research UK’s Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence (LCCE) with a commitment of £4m as the green energy company expands its long-standing partnership with the national charity.

A supporter of CRUK for over 12 years, ScottishPower and its customers have already raised a staggering £40million to support the charity’s mission to help create a world where people can live longer, better lives free from the fear of cancer.

With the partnership confirmed to continue for another 5 years, ScottishPower also confirmed it is aiming to raise a further £10million to support the charity’s work by 2029 with £4m of this supporting the LCCE.

It is hoped the latest funding commitment will help to transform UK lung cancer research by allowing Cancer Research UK to increase momentum and build a sustainably funded research community around lung cancer – the third most common form of cancer in the UK and the most common cause of cancer death

Announcing this latest funding commitment, Andrew Ward, CEO of ScottishPower’s Customer Business said:

“I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved for Cancer Research UK through our long-standing partnership. We started this journey with them in 2012 with the aim of raising £5million in three years and to have had our incredible employees, suppliers and customers go on since then to raise £40million for life-saving research is nothing short of phenomenal.

“We’re determined we’re not stopping now. Cancer affects all of us, whether personally or through someone we know and care for. Lung cancer is one of the UK’s biggest killers and so it’s incredibly important to me that this money will go to where it’s really needed – helping with research to ultimately help more people live longer better lives, free from the fear of cancer.”

Commenting on the partnership renewal and support for the LCCE, Michelle Mitchell, CEO of Cancer Research UK said: 

“We’re thrilled ScottishPower will support the CRUK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence and the broad work of the charity. It’s a privilege to have them as one of our longest standing corporate partners.  We’re incredibly proud of what our work together has achieved over the last 12 years and what have big ambitions for what it will achieve in the future.

“In the past decade, the Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence has united world-leading researchers, advancing treatment for this hard-to-treat cancer. With ScottishPower’s support over the next five years, we can sustain momentum and enhance research infrastructure to discover new methods for preventing, detecting and treating long cancer.”

Today’s announcement is a continuation of ScottishPower’s support for Cancer Research UK’s efforts to tackle lung cancer. During COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, ScottishPower announced an ambition to help Cancer Research UK shine a light on the role air pollution plays in cancer.

It covered the cost of the TOPICAL study led by Cancer Research UK’s Chief Clinician and Co-director of the LCCE to help scientists better understand the link between air pollution and lung cancer. Insights from this research are being used to shape new ways to diagnose and treat lung cancer in people who have never smoked.

The green energy company, its customers and staff have supported Cancer Research UK since 2012. Through a wide range of fundraising initiatives, it has been a key backer of the charity’s pioneering research and the work of over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses in the UK.

ScottishPower raises money through initiatives including its Help Beat Cancer energy tariff, employee and customer fundraising, as well as sponsorship of Race for Life events across the UK and Stand Up To Cancer campaigns. Every penny raised through these initiatives contributes towards Cancer Research UK's vision to create a world where people live longer better lives free from the fear of cancer.

For more information on the partnership, visit scottishpower.co.uk/about-us/cancer-research-uk