Green for business

Green For Business

Make Your Business Work Smarter and Greener

Green for Business is a free support programme designed to help small businesses take their first steps towards sustainability. You’ll be matched with an expert green consultant who’ll guide you through practical, low-effort changes that deliver significant results for your business and the environment.

Green For Business

What’s in it for your business?

As a business owner, you’re already aware that sustainability is becoming increasingly commercial. What’s less widely known are the tangible benefits it can bring to your business. From cutting costs to boosting efficiency, going green isn’t just good for the planet; it’s good for business.

We are here to help

We help Irish SMEs work smarter by combining Lean thinking, sustainability practices, and digital systems now enhanced with AI.

Green For Business

Green for Business Grant Process Flow

Support your business to reduce energy costs and go Greener

Step 1: Apply for the Green for Business Programme from your local LEO

What it is:

A free, expert-led consultancy to help your business identify opportunities to reduce energy costs and improve sustainability. Delivered by LEO-approved consultants AppAdvisor.ie

Apply Online:

Contact LEO office for link

Information needed for the application:
  • Business & contact details
  • Brief description of your business
  • Date you started trading
  • Business structure (sole trader, limited company, etc.)
  • Export activity (yes/no)
  • Sector and employment figures
  • Latest signed financial accounts (upload)
  • Areas you want to improve (e.g., energy, waste, water)
  • Any sustainability plan you already have
  • Project goals (e.g., replace fridges, lighting, etc.)
  • Current energy use / carbon footprint (near estimates is OK)- you will need energy bills for the last year- e.g. ESB, Oil, Diesel and other business travel, Waste and water charges
  • Declaration and GDPR consents

Once your application is approved by the LEO:

  • A Green Consultant from AppAdvisor will visit your site
  • We audit your energy-consuming equipment and operations
  • We prepare a Green for Business Report, outlining:
    • Your current energy use
    • Appliances or areas that could be improved
    • Estimated cost savings and emissions reductions
    • A suggested action plan
  • You receive a copy of the report and will be submitted online to the LEO
  • It can be used to apply for further funding

The register of opportunities on this report is key- whatever equipment is listed on this report is eligible for replacement with suggested more efficient models.

What it is:

Funding of up to €10,000 (75% of eligible costs) to help you purchase and install more energy-efficient equipment and Green solutions.

Apply Here:

Contact your LEO office

What you’ll need for the grant application:
  • Tax Clearance Access Number (TCAN)
  • Rates receipt or proof you operate in a rateable premises
  • Latest set of accounts
  • Quotations for the equipment:
    • 1 quote if the equipment costs under €5,000
    • 3 quotes if it costs over €5,000
  • A copy of your Green for Business Report (from Step 2)
What types of upgrades qualify?
  • Refrigeration and display fridges
  • Commercial dishwashers/glasswashers
  • Ice machines
  • Electrical equipment must be over 5 years old and replaced by more efficient models
  • heating controls
  • Office or manufacturing equipment and food waste and wind energy equipment etc

Bonus: Equipment listed on the SEAI Triple E Register is prioritised.

Timelines
  • Green for Business application approval: typical-1–2 weeks
  • Site visit and Green report: Within 2 weeks after approval
  • Grant application review: ~3–4 weeks
  • Project completion window: You must not purchase equipment before approval letter of offer from LEO

Proven Impact

Case Studies

AppAdvisor is a business improvement consultancy with over 35 years of operational experience. We help Irish businesses cut admin, reduce costs, and simplify operations using innovative, AI-powered systems and proven process improvement methods.

From process automation to more intelligent decision-making, we embed practical AI tools into every stage of your business improvement journey.

Joe Connaughton

'Mankind’s purpose in life is to pass on wisdom'

Joe Connaughton brings over 35 years of experience in business, technology, and sport to his role as senior consultant at AppAdvisor. His method is grounded in one principle: work smarter, not harder – now with the most transformative tool yet: Artificial Intelligence.

Joe has lived through multiple technology revolutions: the rise of personal computing in his early days when he founded a very successful ICT support company. Also, the spread of enterprise IT, and the explosion of mobile and cloud systems in his second business venture in an internationally focussed mobile app publishing company. Each changed the way businesses operate. However, none compares to AI, a shift so profound that it redefines productivity, decision-making, and how work itself is done.

His background spans enterprise IT deployments, operational leadership in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and three decades of competitive sport. He has seen how complexity, jargon, and trend-chasing derail progress. His approach strips that back: use the right tools, simplify and apply them with discipline, and always focus on tangible business outcomes.

At AppAdvisor, Joe integrates practical AI into business improvement, not hype, but real gains in time, cost, and clarity. From workflow automation to predictive planning, he helps clients adopt AI as part of a bigger strategy rooted in Lean principles, strategic foresight, and cultural clarity.

Joe doesn’t follow trends; he aligns tools with purpose. In today’s noise-heavy landscape, his value lies in cutting through it.

Joe(y) is a former Roscommon GAA player and now a fanatical supporter, an occasional cyclist and a very poor golfer.

Jack Connaughton

Jack leads AppAdvisor's AI advisory and digital strategy work. He holds a First Class Honours degree in Business Information Systems from the University of Galway, is CompTIA Security+ certified, and has worked with SMEs across Ireland, the USA, Canada and Australia on cloud systems, automation, cybersecurity and practical AI.

Where Joe brings decades of business judgement, Jack brings the detail: the right tools, workflow automation and AI strategy. Our work is advisory first, and when a client wants hands-on help putting the plan in place, Jack can take that on privately.

The goal is simple. Make technology serve the business, not the other way around.

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