Mr. Declan Meally:

I thank the Cathaoirleach and members for the invitation to attend the meeting to discuss the skills and supports required for businesses to meet their decarbonisation targets. I thank the committee for affording me the opportunity to present my opening statement.

The SEAI is at the heart of delivering Ireland’s energy revolution. Our vision is to be a leading authority driving Ireland’s sustainable energy transformation for the benefit of all of society. Ireland has ambitious energy and climate targets to achieve against the backdrop of post-pandemic supply chain impacts, inflation and the energy crisis. We passionately believe in this transformation, know it must happen and are working tirelessly to achieve it. We are doing this by driving the reduction and replacement of fossil fuel usage. We are a knowledge-led organisation, and we partner with citizens, communities, businesses and Government. We are trusted collaborators, innovators, funders and educators. The SEAI is funded by the Government of Ireland through the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications and the Department of Transport. In 2023, our total budget allocation is €594 million. We also work with and support all Departments and their agencies, including the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The SEAI is key to informing, supporting, implementing and delivering Government energy policy and national climate action plans. Our programmes have a major impact on the Irish economy through home and community energy upgrades, business supports, research and innovation funding. The SEAI’s role and mandate is growing in response to increased climate change urgency. We are in a growth phase of our evolution, growing our core staff base to 235 employees this year. We are based in Dublin, Dundalk, Cork and Sligo. Our staff possess a very broad range of skill sets including engineering, data analysis and modelling, economics, behavioural science, finance, marketing, legal and administration. This mix reflects the skills required to meet the needs of current and future energy systems. We are grateful for the support of our parent department, the Department of Transport and the Department for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform as we scale up to enable the societal movement to an efficient energy system built on renewable energy sources.

Sustainable energy investment unlocks a multitude of benefits and addresses a broad range of Government priorities. Society benefits from reduced energy costs and emissions and increased national energy security. Homes and buildings are warmer and have improved air quality. Health outcomes improve with reductions in national and private health costs. Business and industry are more competitive, with more people employed in related supply chains. These benefits are far reaching and must be fully considered to properly contextualise the necessary investments. The costs of failing to make the required leap are incalculable. We must recognise our responsibility to each other, and globally. As a wealthy nation and due to our geographical location, Ireland has only started to experience the impacts of the changing climate and we have witnessed catastrophic events in parts of our planet where communities are less able to act. The demands on Ireland’s energy and environment require us to work at pace and to deliver ever greater results. That is what we in SEAI do, not just because it is our mission, but because it will provide a better life for individuals, businesses and communities long into the future.

On carbon dioxide emissions in the business sector, our Energy in Ireland 2022 Report shows Ireland’s business activities, including industry, commercial and public sector, accounted for 39.4% of the total energy demand. The emissions related to fossil fuel usage in the industry, commercial and public sectors is just over 12 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. There are approximately 300,000 industry, business and service organisations in Ireland, but just 250 large industry organisations account for approximately 80% of the industry sector energy-related emissions.

SEAI provides bespoke one to one decarbonisation support for these high emission organisations through our large industry energy network. SEAI also provides general decarbonisation support for all other business and service organisations which I will outline later.

SEAI has worked with small and large businesses for decades, supporting companies to implement energy management systems, investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy and transforming approaches to the design and operation of large energy consuming assets. SEAI’s work in developing energy management systems through the Irish Energy Management Standard 393 has formed the basis for international energy management standards such as ISO 50001 and, through SEAI’s work, Ireland is demonstrating leadership again with Irish Standard 399 the Energy Efficient Design standard. Irish companies are often at the vanguard of the implementation of these impactful standards and best practices providing a major competitive advantage to those companies.

Climate action and decarbonisation has risen up the corporate agenda significantly in recent years. Various businesses require assistance in building knowledge and capacity around energy and decarbonisation matters, identifying and planning solutions for addressing decarbonisation and delivering targeted impactful investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy. In recognition of the wide cohort of businesses, and the different stages they are at in their own decarbonisation journey, in recent years SEAI has enhanced the energy efficiency programmes into decarbonisation programmes. SEAI provides supports to both small and large business, broadly centred around two key themes; advisory and training supports and funding supports.

Advisory and training supports include online and in-person training, energy networks, guides, workshops, events and registers of professionals. Funding supports include audit supports, investment grants for solar PV, renewable heating, commercial building retrofit, and energy efficiency and a list of products that can avail of accelerated capital allowances. From 2021 to the end of September 2023, SEAI has supported over 7,400 business users who have enrolled in the SEAI Energy Academy. Almost 800 small businesses have completed introduction to energy management training. SEAI large industry energy network, LIEN, has held over 50 events, workshops and site visits. SEAI LIEN has established seven special working groups. Thousands of businesses have attended SEAI business briefings, SEAI energy shows, and the SEAI Energy Awards. In addition in 2022, SEAI provided grant support to 2,798 businesses totalling €57.6 million. In 2023, SEAI has provided grant support to 2,501 businesses totalling €31.4 million. A full list of advisory and training supports and funding supports is provided in the appendix of the document sent to the committee.

SEAI works closely with colleagues in Department of Environment, Climate and Communications and the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, along with enterprise agencies, on supporting the achievement of emission reductions in both the commercial built environment and the industry sectors through the targets and actions in the climate action plan. Key areas of focus for the business sector will be supporting the commercial building retrofit targets, rolling out heat pump retrofits, biomass heating, district heating and supporting key sectors such as hotels, hospitality and offices and supporting the industry emissions targets, via heat pumps retrofits, biomass retrofits, renewable gas, and energy efficiency. SEAI is focused on expanding and enhancing supports to business, with several recent steps in response to climate action plan targets including the introduction of an accessible audit support for SMEs; enhancements to the support scheme for renewable heat from March 2023 to expand eligibility and increase support levels for heat pump and building retrofit projects; significant support for biomass projects within scheme; enhancements to the excellence in energy efficiency design, EXEED, grant scheme from March 2023 to expand maximum support and simplify scheme criteria; enhancements to the non-domestic microgeneration scheme to expand support to 1,000 kWp, from 6 kWp, from July 2023, increasing support levels up to €162,600; development of a new, SME-focused, retrofit grant, subject to final sanction and climate action fund allocation. Modelled on the microgeneration scheme, the scheme supports a range of building retrofit measures with a rapid approval model based on commoditised grant amounts.

In conclusion, SEAI has been central to energy efficiency and renewable energy deployments in the business sector for many decades and through existing, enhanced and new supports, has the tools to support ambitious businesses on their decarbonisation journey through a range of advisory, training and funding supports which are included in the appendix to this note, along with the 2022 achievements of the business, public sector and transport directorate.