Cork's Climeaction seeks to fill US funding gap

Climeaction CEO Paul Murphy, minister Peter Burke, Enterprise Ireland executive director Jennifer Melia, Enterprise Ireland's Sara Dart, and Climeaction operations lead Brendan Place. File picture

Cork-headquartered firm Climeaction is to develop a $50m (€46m) Climate Transition Fund in the US to help large industrial manufacturers in New England to develop clean energy and decarbonisation projects.

Paul Murphy’s company is moving to fill a gap caused by the recent $500m (€457.8m) cuts to Massachusetts’s state energy efficiency funding, which has left many companies struggling to finance their transition to cleaner energy.

“This is exactly why we’re stepping in,” Mr Murphy said. “Businesses shouldn’t have to delay emissions reductions due to financial or technical barriers.

“We’re bringing solutions that are plug-and-play — developed over years of technical expertise in Ireland—while also introducing a funding model that allows action today.”

Founded in 2021, Climeaction employs 35 people across Cork and Boston. Through further expansion, the firm expects to create 120 jobs across Ireland and the US by 2027.

It is also collaborating with Business Venture Partners (BVP) to deploy €25m in finance for manufacturers in Ireland to implement energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

The funding will help firms install industrial heat pumps and boilers to replace fossil-fuel heating systems and also fund large-scale solar projects of more than 1MW to allow manufacturers to generate their own electricity and reduce grid reliance.

Climeaction is handling the design, project management and delivery of the funding from BVP’s SBCI-backed Green Transition Finance. The funding has the potential to cut 25,000 tonnes of emissions and create 25 new jobs in Ireland over the next two years.

“Many businesses want to decarbonise, but capital and technical challenges slow them down. This fund removes those roadblocks and allows companies to take action today,” said Murphy.

Separately, the firm is seeking to increase digital engagement solutions for agriculture with €500,000 funding from Enterprise Ireland’s Research, Development and Innovation Fund. Climeaction is developing a digital platform to simplify farm-level engagement in sustainability efforts.