Businesses invited to Take the Pledge for a Cleaner, Greener Waterford
Waterford’s Commercial Rates Energy Discount Scheme - Business Pledge for a Cleaner, Greener Waterford 2025 - opens for applications from August 5th until September 19th 2025. Local businesses are invited to take the Business Pledge to strive towards a cleaner, greener Waterford, and commit to completing at least two actions in the next 12 months that would reduce the carbon footprint of their business. Through this initiative, SME’s and hospitality businesses could be eligible for a 9% discount on their rates bill as a reward for taking action to reduce their carbon footprint.
This is the fourth year of this scheme which is unique to Waterford. Businesses have already completed training and carried out energy audits to help them avail of grant funding. Last year alone over 1,000 Waterford businesses pledged to take two actions to make their business “greener and greener”, through actions that save energy, reduce waste and save money.
From August 5th, businesses will be able to upload the evidence of some of the actions they are undertaking on Waterford City and County Council’s Submit platform to receive the discount for this year.
If your business missed out last year, there is still opportunity to apply for the discount. All you need to do is pledge to complete two “greener” actions in the next year. Watch out for correspondance from the Rates Office that will assist in the process.
Additionally, if businesses are worried about applying or are unsure of the process Waterford City and County Council’s Climate Action Team can help. A series of workshops, both online and in person, will be held in the coming weeks. These workshops will provide information and guidelines to help businesss choose the format that best suits their schedule.
The Climate Action Team is also available throughout the year, as is Waterford Local Enterprise Office to help businesses achieve their pledge for a cleaner, greener Waterford. The scheme is open to businesses whose annual rate bill is less than €10,000 or who operate in the hospitality and leisure industries. These businesses will be eligible to receive a rates energy discount of 9% once they have provided details of the actions they will take to become more sustainable in the coming year.
For more information about the scheme please see the Business Pledge Guidelines 2025 at https://submit.link/41A
Applications can be submitted from Tuesday, August 5th at https://submit.link/3V7
For further information and details and links to the online and in person workshops get in touch with the Climate Action Team at climateaction@waterfordcouncil.ie or visit www.waterfordcouncil.ie
