A €55 million green transition fund to help businesses move away from fossil fuels and towards more sustainable and cheaper alternatives has been announced by the Government.
The package, which includes up to €1 million for manufacturing businesses, is being funded by the EU under Ireland’s national recovery and resilience plan (NRRP), introduced in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Leo Varadkar and Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity Pippa Hackett announced details of the fund.
“We need to take better care of our planet. This generation should aim to pass it on to the next in a better condition than we inherited it. Businesses have a really important role to play,” Mr Varadkar said.
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Despite an unprecedented number of people in employment, he accepted many business owners were still getting back on their feet after a difficult couple of years. “So, we need to help them when it comes to what is another enormous challenge – reducing our reliance on fossil fuels,” he added.
One part of the fund is to help businesses make a plan particular to their company to give them clarity on what exactly needs to be done, while another part is aimed at manufacturing industry investing in more environmentally friendly way of conducting their activities.
“Putin’s war on Ukraine has highlighted the vulnerability of becoming too reliant on finite resources controlled by other states. We need to help Irish businesses now prepare for a future where economic growth and fossil fuels are not intertwined. This fund is an important help,” Mr Varadkar said.
Personalised plan
The Climate Planning Fund for Business will enable businesses to come up with a personalised plan to identify how best to remove reliance on fossil fuels. A €1,800 grant to develop a plan and up to €50,000 in matched funding to go towards specific capacity building within an enterprise are among available grants.
The Enterprise Emissions Reduction Investment Fund will give manufacturers funding to invest in carbon-neutral heating processes, smart metering and energy monitoring, and research and development. Up to €1 million is available for businesses to upgrade their processes.
The NRRP was developed by the Government to direct funding under the EU’s recovery and resilience facility. The Republic is expected to receive more than €900 million in total grants under this heading.
