Bord na Móna reveals new companies to join Accelerate Green programme

BORD na Móna has revealed the eight new companies who have been selected to take part in the second year of Accelerate Green. 

The participating companies are NanobOx, Hibra Design, HaPPE Earth, Hub360, Superfy, Trinity Green Energy, EC Charging and CW Applied Technology. Bord na Móna’s Accelerate Green programme is Ireland’s leading sustainability programme designed to scale-up companies who are developing products and services based on green innovation in response to climate action and sustainability challenges. The current cohort of businesses employ over 70 people with turnover of more than €5 million.

Bord na Móna has also committed to a further €5 million investment in the Accelerate Green Programme over the next three years which will support more than 50 companies to scale up. A significant 15% of this will be invested in targeting new companies to apply to Accelerate Green with a particular emphasis on identifying Midlands based companies.

Speaking at the launch, Tom Donnellan, CEO of Bord na Móna said: “At Bord na Mona we understand the role mentorship and partnership will play in achieving the vision of a climate neutral Ireland by 2050. Of the 17 companies who have already come through Accelerate Green, we have established a working partnership with six companies and facilitated ten to scale up, secure more funding, diversify their business and provide more climate focussed roles in the Midlands. 

“This new cohort of companies just beginning the programme represent the critical pipeline of potential new enterprises operating in the sustainability space or looking to transition to become a climate solutions company, a journey we have been on ourselves since 2018. We are committed to sharing our knowledge with these enterprises as they progress through the Accelerate Green programme, collaborating to ensure the organisations can scale up and become leaders in their own right with the support of Bord na Móna.”

Keynote speaker at the launch, Julie Sinnamon, member of the Climate Change Advisory Council said: “I have been really inspired and impressed by the calibre of companies participating in this year’s Accelerate Green Programme. Great entrepreneurial and innovative businesses need the support of programmes such as Accelerate Green to make sure that they can scale up and thrive. It is their success that will drive Ireland forward to achieve the transition to a low carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy.”

Accelerate Green will be located at Bord na Móna’s existing office complex in Boora, Co Offaly. It has been developed in in conjunction with Irish innovation advisory firm Resolve Partners and ERINN Innovation.

Resolve Partners run the programme with Bord na Móna and Resolve's Alan Costello said: “Collectively, the eight companies on the programme employ 70 people and have raised funding of over €5 million to-date. Graduation from Bord na Móna’s Accelerate Green will open doors for further growth as it has for their predecessors. We have exciting innovations with this round of participants and this accelerator will help them deliver measurable impact and support sustainable economic development.” 

More than 90 per cent of Bord na Móna investment in the last financial year was in areas the EU would class as “environmentally sustainable”, including renewable energy, land use change and the circular economy. Accelerate Green is central to the company’s commitment to the European Green Deal.

This work is supported with partial funding through the Bord na Mona led European Commission funded LIFE Integrated Project ‘Peatlands and People’ an initiative that aims to support the realisation of a carbon-neutral, climate resistant and environmentally sustainable country.

Graduates of the programme last year have gone on to increase their employment by more than 20% and raise multi million euros in venture funding.

Bord na Móna was established to support the State’s economic progress and security of energy supply and it is now an Irish, semi-state climate solutions company helping lead the country towards a climate neutral future. 

Bord na Móna’s mission has four core elements: provide Ireland with sustainable energy from renewable sources at scale; effectively rehabilitate its peatlands; deliver world-class waste and resource recovery solutions and; help Ireland reimagine how it engages with climate action.

In 2020 Bord na Móna launched a €126m Peatland Climate Action Scheme, which will harness the natural power of peatlands to secure a store of over 100m tonnes of carbon in perpetuity, cut emissions, and capture millions of tonnes more in the coming years. 

The company also raised €1.6 billion to fund a series of major climate focused projects across its 200,000 acre landholding. By 2030, Bord na Móna will be able to supply a third of Irish homes with renewable energy. Eighty percent of all Bord na Móna’s operations is now focused on renewable energy production, recycling, peatland rehabilitation, and sustainable product development.

For more information visit https://accelerategreen.ie/

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