Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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104. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if the primary focus of the EXEED grant scheme is carbon reduction or certification; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47801/21]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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105. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if the EXEED grant scheme is for carbon reduction or certification; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47802/21]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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107. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on whether the scoring system for the EXEED grant scheme is weighted too heavily towards certification rather than carbon reduction projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47804/21]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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108. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on whether the EXEED grant scheme is failing due to the fact that of 237 expressions of interest only 82 manifested in stage 1 applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47805/21]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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109. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on the fact that 82 stage 1 applications for the EXEED grant scheme is an extremely low uptake when compared to the number of eligible SMEs in the sector and may indicate that there is a problem with the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47806/21]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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110. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on whether the fact that only seven EXEED grant scheme offers have been made in 2021 will have a significant impact on national targets for carbon reduction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47807/21]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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111. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the breakdown of the seven EXEED grant scheme offers made, by industry, business size, geographical location of the successful applications, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47808/21]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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112. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the breakdown by industry, business size and geographical location of the number of businesses that have passed audit and achieved certification (details supplied) since the inception of the EXEED grant scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47809/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 104, 105 and 107 to 112, inclusive, together.

The Programme for Government commits to achieving an average 7% per annum reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions from 2021 to 2030 and to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

In order to ensure alignment to these commitments, last year I approved changes to the Excellence in Energy Efficiency Design (EXEED) Programme. These changes included setting the programme's primary objective to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by supporting businesses and other organisations in adopting the EXEED Certified approach to energy efficient design management.

The revised programme was launched in January 2021 and will operate for three years. Projects that apply for funding are evaluated using a scoring system that applies equal weighting to project impact and adherence to the EXEED Certified standard, which is in line with the overall programme objective.

Given the programme is only open for applications since earlier this year, it is too early to evaluate its performance. A review will be carried our in mid-2022 at which point changes to the programme may be considered.

The following have been approved for Stage 2 grants, which support capital investment, under the EXEED Programme since the start of this year: 

The following have achieved EXEED designed, managed and/or verified certification since the inception of the EXEED Programme:

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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106. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the SEAI business capital grant support that is available for individual micro, small, medium, and large business in Ireland to reduce their carbon emissions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47803/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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There is a wide range of capital supports funded by my Department and administered by the SEAI that enable all businesses to reduce their carbon emissions and improve their energy efficiency:

- EXEED Certified grant scheme supports organisations with the costs of embedding energy efficient design in their assets, to reduce lifecycle impact with lower energy use and carbon emissions.

- Support Scheme for Energy Audits supports SMEs with a €2,000 voucher towards the costs of a professional energy audit.

- Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH) grant scheme provides financial support in the adoption of renewable heating systems by commercial, industrial, agricultural, district heating and other non-domestic heat users..

- Communities Energy Grant (CEG) Scheme makes grant funding available for community-based partnerships to improve the energy efficiency of the building stock in their area. 

Other supports for businesses include: 

- Project Assistance Grants helping fund feasibility studies and business cases for energy performance improvements.

- Training (SEAI Energy Academy), information and advisory service, access to energy auditing services and case studies of best practice.

- Large Industry Energy Network where members work together to improve energy performance and share experiences.

- Accelerated Capital Allowances is a tax incentive scheme which allows businesses to reduce their taxable profits by the full level of expenditure on energy efficient equipment in the year the investment is made.

Full details on these supports are available at: www.seai.ie/business-and-public-sector/standards/