"Green" Business Grants

Tuesday 24 March, 2009

by John Coulson

There are a number of new government initiatives to help businesses reduce their impact on the environment. The Australian Government has allocated $240 million over four years to establish Clean Business Australia, a grant package aimed at tackling climate change. It aims to improve energy and water efficiency and increase sustainability, with a focus on productivity and innovation.

There are three elements to Clean Business Australia:

1. Climate Ready
   
   Climate Ready supports SMEs to undertake research and development of new "Climate Change" technologies and services.
   
   The program replaces a broad-based grants program "Commercial Ready", funded to the tune of $200m, which was closed down in July 2008. The Climate Ready program has a similar format but funding has been cut to only $19 million per year.
   
   The most notable impact of this change has been to SMEs in the technology sectors that have R&D projects that do not address the effects of climate change. Conversely, Clean Tech enterprises have benefited greatly from the expanded number of programs.
   
   Climate Ready is a competitive merit-based grants program for SMEs that provides grants from $50,000 to $5 million on a matched funding basis.
   
   The program supports projects for innovations designed to address the impact of climate change which may include:
   
   
   • Water recycling, waste recovery or small scale renewable energy technologies
     
   • Technologies that reduce the energy used by appliances or increase the efficiency of industrial processes
     
   • Products, processes or services to monitor emissions or power usage
     
   • Using biotechnology or nanotechnology to address the effects of climate change on humans and the environment
     
   • Information systems for businesses or consumers to compare the carbon footprint of different activities
     
   • Green building materials that make homes more energy efficient
     
2. Re-tooling for Climate Change
   
   Re-tooling for Climate Change supports SMEs who are manufacturers to reduce their environmental footprint by improving the energy and/or water efficiency of one or more production processes.
   
   It provides grants between $10,000 and $500,000, up to a maximum of one third of the cost of each project. Examples of eligible projects include:
   
   
   • Investing in small-scale co-generation plants that capture waste energy and use it to produce electricity on site
     
   • Stormwater capture and improving water recycling for reuse in the manufacturing process
     
   • Improving insulation and recovering waste heat to improve manufacturing process efficiency
     
   • Process re-engineering involving the adoption of energy efficient manufacturing tools, that reduce substantially the energy used in the production process
     
3. Green Building Fund
   
   Green Building Fund supports owners of existing commercial office buildings to reduce their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Support is also available for relevant industry organisations to develop capability to reduce emissions.
   
   It is a program that aims to reduce the impact of buildings on greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the energy consumed in the operation of commercial office buildings. The program provides $90 million in grants across four years, from 2008 - 2009 to 2011 - 2012.
   
   The Fund targets the owners of existing commercial office buildings supporting retro-fitting and retro-commissioning, to reduce base building energy consumption. Grants ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 are available for up to 50% of project costs.
   
   Eligible projects could involve:
   
   
   • Common area lighting
     
   • Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems
     
   • The building fabric, for example glazing and shading
     
   • Monitoring equipment, building automation systems and control systems linked to improving the energy efficiency of the building

Author Credits

John Coulson is a partner with accountants and business and financial advisers HLB Mann Judd Melbourne. For further information visit the HLB Mann Judd website: www.hlb.com.au.