Sustainable Development Goals
As the second-largest natural harbour in the world, located closest to the busiest shipping routes in the world and to our nearest fellow EU Member State France, Cork offers unique opportunities to embrace the extraordinary opportunities presented by the climate crisis, biodiversity crisis, and now energy security crisis.
As fixed bottom offshore wind technology transitions to floating technology as it extends from the East Coast to the Celtic Sea and Atlantic, Cobh and the lower harbour area are ideally located to service this industry. Within our beautiful harbour we have Ireland’s only oil refinery, the grid and gas network, the dockyard at Doyle Shipping Group, Port of Cork, the National Maritime College, the MaREI Centre, and Ireland’s only Naval Base, not to forget, the oldest Yacht Club in the world.
In addition, we have several offshore renewable energy companies such as Simply Blue Group with whom we were delighted to partner towards delivering stakeholder engagement on the importance of renewable energy.
Ireland with Cork Harbour as a centre of gravity could be the battery of Europe. We will continue with our innovative projects within Cobh and the lower harbour community. Sustainability and engaging with the Sustainable Development Goals are now more important than ever for all as we edge towards the 2030 goals.
SEAI always recommend that you start your energy-saving journey by first looking at what you can do without spending any money – you may be surprised by how much you can save this way.
Next, look at how you could invest in energy efficiency measures to achieve even greater savings.
The final step should be to consider whether renewable energy, such as heat pumps or solar panels, could be a good fit for your business.
The best way to know what measures are suitable for your organisation is to get an energy audit and SEAI has recently launched a new scheme, the Support Scheme for Energy Audits, to help.
Available supports are listed below:
SEAI Energy Academy: https://www.seai.ie/energyacademy/
Support Scheme for Energy Audits: https://www.seai.ie/business-and-public-sector/small-and-medium-business/supports/energy-audits/
Chambers Ireland on the Sustainable Development Goals
Chambers Ireland has released an extensive Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Toolkit for Business to encourage employers of every size to advance their sustainability journey by integrating the goals into their day-to-day activities.
The Chambers Ireland SDG Toolkit for Business is available here.
