Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 27 September 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

SME Energy and Carbon Demands, Green Initiatives and Technology: Discussion

Mr. Leo Clancy:

I will ask Ms Toomey to cover the climate toolkit in a moment because she is more familiar with it and I will start with the environmental aid scheme. We have been making approvals under the environmental aid scheme for large capital infrastructure improvements that are material carbon reductions. We intend to continue with that. We are engaging heavily with clients, as we mentioned. We have spoken a lot about SMEs today but larger measures are probably where the biggest gains are to be had. We are currently estimating. Companies have their own plans for decarbonisation and these will take them so far. They will look at the trajectory of the carbon taxes, as well as the requirements for their business in terms of sustainability. We are looking at what we can do to further incentivise them beyond that.