Cork to receive €800k in EU climate funding
Cork is set to receive €800,000 in funding from the EU Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.
Funding of €2 million is to be made available across Cork, Dublin, and Galway.
The EU Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission was set up by the European Commission in 2021, and aims to support 100 cities in the EU to become climate neutral by 2030. It aims to see all cities in Europe carbon neutral by 2050.
Cork and Dublin were selected from over 300 cities to be part of the initiative, while Galway was selected to be part of the EU Pilot Cities Programme.
Minister for Climate, Energy, and the Environment Daragh O’Brien said: “Reaching climate neutrality in these cities will help them to become places which provide citizens with a good quality of life by reducing pollution, providing safer transport, and creating more sustainable communities.”
Cork and Dublin are to receive €800,000 each, while Galway will take the remaining €400,000 being made available to Ireland. Twenty-one strategic, city-led proposals to assist the cities to reduce emissions, support resilience and adaptation, and improve quality of life were decided through “significant engagement”.
A National Mirror Group was established by the Department of the Environment in 2024, to discuss the supports that the three cities need at a national, regional, and local level.
The group is co-chaired by Professor Brian Ó Gallachóir, UCC MaREI Director, and Barry Quinlan, Assistant Secretary General for Climate in the Department of Climate, Energy, and the Environment.
In 2025, a mission ‘label’ was awarded to Cork and Dublin, to acknowledge that their Climate City Contracts, setting out how they will become carbon neutral by 2030, were approved by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank.
Examples of projects include extending transport network sensors in Cork city to provide data for demand management of car travel, and to promote a sustainable modal shift; a series of local events in Dublin to encourage people to reduce food waste and eat more healthily; and installing a green roof and permeable paving at a local authority-owned building in Galway.
David Joyce, Director of Services for the Emergency Management and Climate Action Directorate in Cork City Council said: “We are using this funding to help decarbonise public buildings, better manage and monitor the transport network, retrofit heritage homes, and build our capacity to deliver.
“This funding will help us to build momentum towards our goal of Cork as a new-zero, climate resilient city as soon as possible,” he said.
This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.