Minister for Small Business, Mr John Perry T.D., today welcomed the launch of the inter-agency guide, Developing a Green Enterprise.
The document is a concise guide for businesses in Ireland of the supports (including State-funded programmes) offered by the various State agencies with responsibility for enterprise development and energy.
The Minister said: “A key recommendation of the High-Level Group on Green Enterprise (which was produced by Forfás and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation) was to consolidate and improve the information and awareness of the various hard and soft supports offered by the State agencies with responsibility for enterprise development.”
“This succinct document presents this information in a very accessible format and will be of significant value to small and medium-sized enterprises wishing to develop more green and resource-efficient practices and strategies.
“Over half of all Irish companies have taken action to improve their energy efficiency in the last three years, according to Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), and only one-third of these actions have involved a capital spend. Reducing energy costs is a key priority for Irish business and where energy efficiency initiatives were implemented, most businesses have achieved average energy cost savings of 12%.
“A greener, more resource-efficient enterprise base is important for Ireland as it reduces input costs to businesses (i.e. energy, water, waste), improves both firm-level and national competitiveness, reduces the reliance on scarce imported resources, such as energy resulting in an environmental improvement through reduced greenhouse gas emissions or less waste going to landfill.
It is, therefore, crucial that all businesses maximise the opportunities to reduce costs and improve their resource efficiency. There are real benefits for small business in terms of cost savings and the state agencies are ready to provide advice and support,” concluded Minister Perry.
