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Climate Action Fund
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
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The Climate Action Fund (CAF) was established to provide assistance and financial support to projects which will help Ireland achieve its climate and energy targets. The CAF will provide at least €500 million in government funding up to 2027 towards this aim. The Fund will provide support for innovative initiatives which may not otherwise be possible to accomplish. The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) is responsible for the management of the Fund.
Open funding calls under the CAF will be advertised here. Please note that the CAF is not currently running an open funding call.
On 23 November 2023, Minister for Education, Norma Foley and Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, Ossian Smyth, launched the first phase of the Schools Photovoltaic Programme.
Budget 2023 included funding from the Climate Action Fund for eligible schools to obtain 6 kilowatts of roof-mounted solar PV, which equates to approximately 15-16 solar panels.
Applications for the first phase opened on 30 November 2023. Further details are available on the Department of Education's website.
The Community Climate Action Programme (CCAP) will see €61.5 million from the Climate Action Fund invested in community climate action projects and initiatives, as well as capacity building, over a number of years.
The Programme will support and empower communities to shape and build low carbon, sustainable communities in a coherent way.
The Programme will roll out in two phases with €30 million allocated for the first phase. The first phase is comprised of two strands:
€24 million is being provided to local authorities to support communities, large and small, rural and urban, to build low carbon communities in a considered and structured way.
Under strand 1 "Action: Building Low Carbon Communities" €24 million is being provided from the CAF to all local authorities to partner with community groups to run projects that will contribute to national climate and energy targets.
A further €3 million is being provided by the Shared Island Fund for strand 1a, which will support similar types of projects on a cross-border or whole-island basis. At least 50% of awarded funding under strand 1a will be for project delivery in Northern Ireland. This will support cross-border or all-island projects that have a clear North/South basis and contribute to climate and energy targets on the island of Ireland.
The projects will address one or more of the following five themes:
- Community energy
- Travel
- Food and waste
- Shopping and recycling
- Local climate and environmental action
The projects under strand 1 and strand 1a of the CCAP are now beginning to move into delivery. A number of local authorities have already announced successful projects. The projects will be completed over an 18-month timeframe.
Strand 1 will support approximately 640 climate action projects across the country, while strand 1a is supporting approximately 40 projects on a cross-border or whole-island basis.
Funding falls into three categories across the projects: small (less than €20,000), medium (between €20,000 and €50,000), and big (between €50,000 and €100,000). The projects that have been selected support initiatives like the development of community gardens, or the installation of renewable energy systems, EV chargers, bike racks, water refill stations, composting, lighting upgrades or rainwater harvesting systems.
Please see the attached breakdown of number of projects per local authority.
Strand 1 and 1a CCAP LA Allocation and Numbers
Strand 1 and 1a CCAP LA Allocation and Numbers
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CCAP Local Authority Contacts
CCAP Local Authority Contacts
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For further information on the projects in local areas, and for information on possible future funding, please contact the Community Climate Action Officer in your local authority.
A total of €8.5 million is being provided to build community capacity in relation to climate action. There are three elements to this strand:
- Open Call for Education, Capacity Building and Learning by Doing Projects: €5 million (Closed) - please see the Pobal website for more information on this programme
- Creative Climate Action: €1 million (Closed) – the Creative Ireland website has details on individual projects
- Creative Climate Action II: €2.5 million to Creative Climate Action Fund II from the Climate Action Fund, matched by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (Closed) – please see the Creative Ireland website for further details
€5 million from the Climate Action Fund has been allocated for an open call for Climate Education, Capacity Building and Learning by Doing Projects. The call is being managed by Pobal behalf of the Climate Action Fund. The deadline for receipt of applications has now closed. Any queries on this open call should be directed to Pobal at CCAP@pobal.ie
The Programme for Government contains a commitment to "support Creative Ireland in engaging the public on climate change through the creative and cultural sectors".
Creative Ireland, in collaboration with DECC, supported this commitment through Creative Climate Action, a competitive fund of €2 million supported by the Climate Action Fund and the Creative Ireland Programme.
Details of the successful projects are available from Creative Ireland.
The Creative Climate Action Fund II – Agents for Change (2023-2025) was launched on 25 November 2022 by Minister Martin and Minister Ryan. This fund seeks to build on the premise that transformational action on climate change requires cultural change throughout society, and with the ambition to utilise the potential of the arts, creativity, and heritage to inspire and empower the culture change needed to transform to a net zero Ireland by 2050.
In Phase 2 of the Creative Climate Action the decision was made to contribute an additional €1.5 million to this programme. The Climate Action Fund will be contributing €2.5 million as will Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media as part of the co-funding arrangement, representing a total of €5.1 million for 39 projects. Three additional projects are to be funded by the Shared Island Fund.
Details of the successful projects are available on the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media website.
The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications proposes to make funding available from the Climate Action Fund to provide support, by way of co-financing, for Standard Action Projects, which are successful in securing funding under the EU LIFE Programme 2021 and which meet criteria for funding from the Climate Action Fund following a competitive evaluation process.
However, only one applicant succeeded in securing funding under the EU Life Programme 2021. This project is valued up to €1.5 million. Two other projects were separately identified to receive funding under the Climate Action Fund Life Programme valued at circa €213,000. The 3 projects are listed below.
- A Digital Rediscovery Centre ("DIRECT LIFE") project by The Rediscovery Centre Ltd. More details are available on the Direct Life website
- Work Package 3 - Advancing a Green Flag Scheme for Communities project by An Taisce. More details are available on the WP3 Green Communities website
- PLASTIC2WAXLIFE project by Trifol Resources Ltd. More details are available on the Trifol website
The first two projects have achieved their objectives and are now complete. The PLASTIC2WAXLIFE project is still ongoing.
Applications for funding under this co-financing scheme are now closed.
The first call for applications aimed to provide grant funding to larger scale projects – seeking total support in excess of €1 million. The deadline for applications as part of the first call, closed at 5pm on 1 October 2018. Seven projects in the first call were approved to proceed to validation stage at a maximum CAF support level of €77 million. More detail on these projects is available below.
ESB eCars are installing new modern electric vehicle chargers across the country as well as upgrading the existing charging network. More details are available on the ESB eCars website.
South Dublin County Council’s (SDCC) - Tallaght District Heating Scheme, the first of its kind in Ireland, is providing low-carbon heat, sourced as excess from a Data Centre, to heat surrounding buildings including County Hall/County Library, Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) Main Building, TU Dublin Sports-Science, Health and Recreation Building, and will service homes and other civic buildings in the future. More information is available on the SDCC website.
Irish Rail received approval for support from the Climate Action Fund to proceed with a project testing hybrid drive technology on intercity railcars. The project will be completed in stages. The first 3 trial stages will upgrade 9 pilot railcars from diesel to hybrid drive. On successful completion of this test phase, the project will be further assessed before further support is provided. For more information, please refer to Irish Rail’s Sustainability Strategy 2021 – 2030.
Climate Action Fund support is being provided to this South East Energy Agency (SEEA) project to assist the transport sector in reducing reduce fuel consumption and emissions from vehicles. Telematics equipment is being installed in over 1,000 heavy goods vehicles and appropriate training for the drivers is being provided. Through continuous monitoring and positive reinforcement of driving behaviour performance, at least a 10% fuel efficiency is expected to accrue. Depending on project results, it may be scaled further by private industry. For more information, please refer to the SEEA website.
Climate Action Fund support is being provided to the GRAZE Gas Project, led by Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) which will deliver the first large-scale renewable gas (biomethane) central grid injection (CGI) facility in Ireland. It will be located near Mitchelstown in County Cork. The GRAZE Gas Project will also support a "virtual pipeline" (road transport) for the collection of renewable gas from farm-based anaerobic digestion (AD) plants in the CGI’s catchment area, transporting it to the CGI facility for injection into Ireland’s gas network.
For more information, please see the GNI website.
The final two projects, Road Management Office (RMO) – Local Authority Public Lighting Energy Efficiency Project and Dublin City Council – Dublin District Heating System Project, are currently in validation stage.
Given the potential for the Climate Action Fund to support private sector projects and public sector bodies competing in open markets, state aid is a key consideration. The support granted under the Climate Action Fund will be subject to European Union state aid rules. The first Call for Applications complies specifically with the criteria set down in the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER).
Other relevant information can be found in the following documents which relate to the first round of funding as well as the overall process of the Climate Action Fund.
Climate Action Fund - Guidelines Applying to the Payment of Financial Support from the Climate Action Fund
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Ciste um Ghníomhú ar son na hAeráide - Treoirlínte a Bhaineann Cur isteach ar Íocaíocht Tacaíochta Airgeadais ón Chiste um Ghníomhú ar son na hAeráide - Bealtaine 2022
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