AIB’s CEO Bernard Byrne has committed to a new €5m equity fund to assist start-up companies specialising in the sustainable technologies sector to address “a gap in the ecosystem here”.
Byrne said the bank will work alongside the International Sustainability Investment Centre to leverage the €5 million equity provided by AIB.
Other recent green initiatives by the bank include plans to build a 225KW roof-top solar plant at its headquarters in Dublin and a co-operation framework with ENERCON, a European supplier of wind turbines, to help small wind farm developers cut out red tape and reduce costs.
As more than 40pc of Irish consumers plan home renovations in the next 18 months, he also announced that AIB is launching a free Building Energy Rating (BER) certificate and personalised advisory report for customers taking out new Home Improvement Personal Loans.
“Climate change and impact investment has jumped up at us as an obvious opportunity that we need to get right behind,” Byrne said.
“We are in the sustainability game for the long haul and therefore we are focused on the impact AIB can have in terms of providing credit to support the social and environmental health of the country,’’ he said.
Market research has highlighted that 41pc of Irish consumers are planning to tackle home improvements over the next 12 to 18 months, while 23pc have just completed home improvement work.
Sustainable business image via Shutterstock
