Wheeling and Dealing – Cork City Council agrees Local Green Deals.

Lord Mayor of Cork, Dan Boyle, last night put pen to paper on 12 Local Green Deals (LGDs) which establish partnerships with a variety of organisations to accelerate sustainability actions.

Boston Scientific, Ballymaloe Foods, Enable Ireland, University College Cork and Sundays Well Rugby Football Club are amongst those who have signed up. (See full list below).

Local Green Deal Groupshot

LGDs are a strategic governance approach to local level climate action which aligns local actions with the wider goals of the European Green Deal. As a member of the EU’s Climate-Neutral & Smart Cities Mission, Cork City is committed to address the growing global climate crisis through meaningful actions at a local level.

The partnerships represent public commitments by local stakeholders across the private, community and voluntary sectors with the support of Cork City Council.

The Lord Mayor said, “I am delighted to formalise these Local Green Deals today. A shared challenge needs a shared solution. We all know sustainability starts at ground level and my hope is that these initial deals are only the beginning of continued efforts by stakeholders and further engagement by experts and those with skills to help where they can”.

Conor Healy, CEO of Cork Chamber who are one of the key supporters of the process, said, "At Cork Chamber, we are committed to making tangible progress on sustainability. Retrofitting our historic Victorian building and installing solar PV has been an important way for us to reduce our environmental impact while preserving Cork’s architectural heritage. Signing our own Local Green Deal is another step in our journey to support Cork City’s long-term sustainability goals. For Cork City to achieve its sustainability goals requires a strong collaborative effort, and it is inspiring to see several of our members signing their own Local Green Deals today”.

Cork City Council adopted its Local Authority Climate Action Plan in early 2024 and the LGDs complement several objectives of the plan across natural environment and resource management, transport and mobility, communities and partnerships and built environment and energy.