Government rolls out €55m fund to help businesses move away from fossil fuels

The new green transition scheme will provide funding of up to €1m to individual manufacturing companies

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar: 'We need to take better care of our planet.'

A €55m fund is being rolled out to help businesses move away from fossil fuels and towards more sustainable, cheaper, alternatives.

The new green transition scheme, being announced by the Government today, will provide funding of up to €1m to individual manufacturing companies.

The €55m fund will be divided into two elements. The first aims to help businesses make a plan particular to their company to give them clarity on what exactly needs to be done, while the second part will be aimed at supporting the manufacturing industry to invest in more environmental options.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said: “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.

"However, we need to recognise that, despite the fact we have a higher number of people employed now than in the history of the state, many of our business owners are still getting back on their feet after what has been an incredibly difficult couple of years."

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So, we need to help them when it comes to what is another enormous challenge — reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.

Under the scheme, businesses will receive 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 the grants available.

Emissions

Meanwhile, up to €1m available under the Enterprise Emissions Reduction Investment Fund, which will give manufacturing businesses funding to invest in carbon neutral heating processes, smart metering and energy monitoring, and research and development.

The programmes will run over the next five years.

Mr Varadkar added: “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."

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