Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, my Department has responsibility to reduce industry on-site emissions (manufacturing, including cement and alumina) by 20% by 2025 and 35% by 2030. The core interventions to address industry emissions in the first carbon and second budget periods are:

• implement energy efficiency measures on site to right-size energy demand;
• electrification of low temperature heat (under 150°C);
• prioritising bioenergy sources such as biomass and biomethane for high temperature heat;
• and construction material diversification and a public procurement mandate for low-carbon cement.

Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland are already working with client companies to drive the widespread adoption of decarbonised heat for industrial manufacturing, for example, through the Green Transition Fund. A budget of €55m for the fund is split into two streams, the Enterprise Emissions Reduction Investment Fund (€30m) and the Climate Planning Fund for Business (€25m) which will run through to the end of 2025. The Fund contains a range of supports for businesses, including capital support for investments in decarbonising heat used in manufacturing processes; vouchers to help companies prepare a plan for the low carbon and resource efficient economy of the future; as well as business development grants to explore new or improved products, services or processes in the areas of sustainability and decarbonisation.

Very large heat decarbonisation projects can be supported through Environmental Aid, available to client companies of Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, and the enterprise development agencies are looking to support high ambition and high impact carbon abatement projects through this mechanism. The recent announcement by Diageo of their investment to dramatically reduce carbon emissions at St James's Gate is an example of this type of project.

In addition to a range of supports to promote energy efficiency, and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) also supports the decarbonisation of industry heat through the Support Scheme for Renewable Heat, which provides grant or operational support for heat generated by renewable sources.

Small and medium manufacturers can also avail of the Energy Efficiency Grant from Local Enterprise Offices, which can provide up to €5,000 towards the cost of decarbonising heat use in manufacturing. I recently announced that the maximum grant under this scheme is now increased to €10,000.

There is now growing evidence of a decoupling of industry emissions from economic growth with emissions having decreased by 7.2% in 2022 relative to 2021 and overall, by 5.8% relative to 2018. Fuel switching from more carbon intensive oil and coal to lower carbon natural gas has been one of the drivers for the reduction to date. The Environmental Protection Agency have yet to release the national greenhouse gas inventories for 2023, but I would expect to see a further reduction in industry emissions in 2023. A further shift to electrification and low carbon heat sources will be needed to deliver on the national abatement targets for industry.

My Department will publish the Roadmap for the Decarbonisation of Industrial Heat in the coming weeks. It is based on the findings of the SEAI’s National Heat Study, and it will set out the key policy interventions to achieve the abatement targets for manufacturing emissions through energy efficiency and the displacement of fossil fuels in industry.