As part of the Galway Climate Inspirations Festival, the “Business Session – Carbon Zero by 2030” panel discussion will take place in An Taibhdhearc on Friday September 13th.

Experts in business support, sustainable energy, and green building practices will share insights on achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, highlighting practical strategies, innovative solutions, and real-world case studies, followed by an interactive Q&A session.

Speakers: 
Rachel Hilliard – Facilitator
University of Galway Business School
Rachel Hillard researches how organisations can transform learning and experience into durable capabilities for innovation to address sustainability challenges. She has applied this to understanding the capacity of firms to adapt environmental innovation. She also researches the role of capabilities at the regional and national level, including governance capability of national systems. Rachel was the Vice-Dean for Graduate Studies for the College of Business, Public Policy and Law (2011-2019).

She is a founding member of the University of Galway’s University Women’s Network.

Kathleen O’Regan
Enterprise Ireland Senior Executive – Sustainability and Renewable Energy Department business supports
Kathleen manages the Enterprise Ireland Green Transition Fund which is designed to support companies to prepare for the low carbon, more resource efficient economy of the future whether a company is starting out on their green journey or has already started.

The Green Transition fund supports a range of activities from initial planning and capability building to investment, research and innovation to develop lower-carbon, resource efficient products, processes, and business models.

Enterprise Ireland is the Government agency in Ireland responsible for supporting Irish businesses in the manufacturing and internationally traded service sectors.

Eóin Cullen
SEAI Business Supports and Transport Programme Executive
Eóin Cullen has been with SEAI for three year’s working across multiple programmes in the Business Supports and Transport department (EXEED, SSRH, Commercial Retrofit, EV Grants, EV Charging etc). With a background in arts and humanities, Eóin recently completed a MSc in Climate Change and has previous experience working in the public sector with the Teaching Council of Ireland. In SEAI, Eóin was responsible for managing the Support Scheme for Energy Audits (SSEA), which is an audit voucher scheme for SME’s as well as providing guidance and support to SMEs. Eóin has recently moved to the Commercial Retrofit team and is responsible for delivering the Non-Domestic Microgen Scheme (Solar PV) which provides grant aid to businesses for Solar PV installations.

Paddy McDonald
Director, Edward – Bonham Quay Office Complex Case Study