179. Deputy Joe Neville asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the measures his Department is taking to find a sustainable solution to industrial cooling; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56304/26]

213. Deputy Keira Keogh asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if he is exploring sustainable solutions for industrial cooling; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57493/26]

222. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if alternative sustainable solutions for industrial cooling have been examined by his Department; if they will inform relevant policy in this space; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58000/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 179, 213 and 222 together.

It is a priority for Government to support businesses in becoming more energy efficient, sustainable and competitive. My Department is investing significantly and collaboratively in developing and implementing a range of policies and measures that support businesses.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has undertaken comprehensive assessments of existing cooling demand, technologies, and related emissions both in the Heat Study, and the recently published, Comprehensive Assessment of the Potential for Efficient Heating and Cooling in Ireland. As part of the latter assessment, the current industrial cooling demand and projected future trends were assessed. The report's technical annex also outlines potential cooling solutions and discusses the existing strategies and policies to support renewable cooling in industry.

The SEAI manages the Large Industry Energy Network (LIEN), which is a network of over 200 large energy users in Ireland. The LIEN actively supports the sharing of best practices related to energy management, energy efficiency and decarbonisation. They do this via training, site visits and targeted studies. Industrial cooling is a topic of interest for this network and has been a focus area of the LIEN at various stages in recent years.

I recently approved enhancements to the Excellence in Energy Efficient Design (EXEED) Scheme, which provides capital grants to support organisations (business and public sector) for projects which are following the EXEED Certified Standard for Excellence in Energy Efficient Design. The EXEED Scheme provides support for efficient and low carbon heating technologies. This includes replacing cooling with more efficient systems, heat recovery from cooling, and cooling demand reduction through energy efficient design principles. The expected benefits include:

• supporting the delivery of 1000 GWh of final energy savings;

• supporting the delivery of 150kt of carbon emission reductions;

• significantly scaling up the level of grant support provided to large companies (€130m from 2026 to 2030);

• a substantially improved SEAI large business grant offering, supporting the sector with energy costs and their sustainable energy goals; and

• a customer-focussed, tailored approach to grant funding which will deliver the scale and pace of growth required in SEAI schemes to meet national targets and objectives.