Following a call by Waterford City and County Council, over 1,000 local businesses have signed up for a Business Pledge for A Cleaner, Greener Waterford.
The scheme, formerly known as the Commercial Energy Discount Scheme, was originally launched in 2022, and has since supported thousands of businesses across the city and county in transitioning to carbon neutrality by identifying opportunities for reducing energy usage and costs, exploring the potential of renewable energy while availing of a discount on their commercial rates.
As part of Waterford City and County Council’s roadmap to delivering a carbon neutral Waterford by 2040 businesses were once again invited to take the pledge to strive towards a cleaner, greener Waterford, and commit to completing at least two actions in the next 12 months that will reduce the carbon footprint of their business.
All 1,003 businesses which took the pledge and committed to two sustainable actions will have a 9% discount applied to their commercial rates.
Sean McKeown, Chief Executive of Waterford City and County Council was pleased with the uptake. "There has been a fantastic response to the business pledge initiative. It highlights the appetite of Waterford businesses to commit to more sustainable business practices that not only have a positive impact on the environment, but also on their operating costs.
"Waterford is the first and only Local Authority to implement such a scheme, and it is just one component of our extremely ambitious strategy in the Climate Action Plan 2024–2029 to achieve energy efficiency and reduce emission targets significantly.
"In our ambition to be Ireland's first carbon neutral city it is heartening to see the groundswell of support from the local business community."
Climate Action Coordinator with Waterford City and County Council, Gráinne Kennedy added, “Waterford City and County Council, working in tandem with local businesses, can collectively make Waterford the most sustainable place in Ireland to do business.
"We had fantastic support from local businesses across the city and county and I'd particularly like to extend our gratitude to our local "ambassadors", Dooley's Hotel, Cantec Group, Powerflow Electronics, and Blossom & Berry Florists, who all enthusiastically picked up and ran with the sustainability baton."
The scheme was open to businesses with annual rate bills less than €10,000 or operate in the hospitality and leisure industries and provided details of the actions they will take to become more sustainable in the coming year, with the 9% commercial rates discount applied in December.
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