Cork, in collaboration with its Chamber of Commerce, signed twelve Local Green Deals (LGDs) with a variety of stakeholder groups, including seven among large and small businesses. These Deals – agreements on how to contribute to the city’s climate objectives – are fully aligned with the city’s objectives outlined in their action plan, and actively support its high ambition to achieve climate neutrality by 2030, as part of the EU Mission for Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities. This endeavour was awarded by the EU Intelligent Cities Challenge, which also supported the work, and Cork Chamber was additionally honoured at the World Chambers Competition.
Cork is a major city in the south of Ireland, with a population of over 200,000 inhabitants and an area of 187 km². After signing the EU Covenant of Mayors commitment in 2016, the city raised its ambition in 2022 by joining the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, which aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2030.
Harnessing Cork’s longstanding cooperation with the private sector for climate ambitions
Over time, the city developed a strong relationship with the business ecosystem, in great part thanks to the collaboration with its Chamber of Commerce. More recently, the public-private cooperation has been directed towards supporting Cork’s efforts in reducing emissions, making the city more resilient and inclusive.
With the support of the EU initiative Intelligent Cities Challenge, the City Council signed agreements with local partners, called Local Green Deals (LGDs), to help translate the “big commitments” into "tangible and bite-sized” actions. The city's primary focus areas, reflected in the LGDs’ commitments, include mainly energy efficiency and renewables, supply chain, sustainable mobility, waste management, and circular economy interventions.
Paul McGuirk, Senior Executive Officer at Cork City Council, highlighted that the city’s approach to its 2030 Mission aims to be as inclusive as possible, engaging the whole community in its journey towards climate neutrality, empowering citizens, and showing that everyone has a place in climate action. Engaging people from a wide range of sectors through agreements tailored to their specific activity creates models in which everyone can see themselves reflected. Every contribution, including those from smaller actors, can make a difference – and the LGDs provide a concrete example of this.
The process to close Local Green Deals and its prospects
The first step from the municipality was to pitch the idea of Local Green Deals to the local businesses through Cork Chamber, proposing that they actively engage in the city’s climate strategy. Seven of them initially responded positively. Group discussions, as well as individual follow-up and dialogue, were then organised with each one to define the needs and possible scope of their actions.
An appointed sustainability manager from the Cork Chamber of Commerce worked closely with these organisations to draft the Green Deals, helping them put existing ideas on paper.Through this process, seven LGDs were signed, including a mix of different entities, in a whole-society approach, namely:
Two large companies (Allied Irish Banks and Boston Scientific)
Five SMEs (Ballymaloe Foods, Velo Coffee Roasters, The Toy library, Springboard Communications, and Trigon group)
In addition, five more deals were signed with community groups, non-profit service providers, and civil society groups (Ballyphehane Community Association, Enable Ireland, Sundays Well Rugby Football Club), as well as a public university (University College Cork, UCC).
From SMEs to large enterprises and community groups: examples of how Local Green Deal’s support action
The Deals are varied and serve primarily to support and promote the engaged entities in their efforts to decarbonise. In fact, to the engaged SMEs, the City and Cork Chamber offered technical assistance, such as focused expert advice throughout the deal lifecycle, guidance on grant aid, consultancy services, and peer-learning opportunities, as well as promotion through Cork City Council’s official channels.
As examples of their comprehensive action, Velo Coffee Roasters committed to reducing energy consumption and boosting productivity through their LGD. Cork connected the business with an expert consultant to plan their decarbonisation journey. This created a staff education programme meant to train departmental sustainability officers. An energy audit identified savings in lighting, heating, and roasting, which resulted in a report with upgraded recommendations.
Concerning larger enterprises, Cork municipality encouraged, for instance, Allied Irish Banks (AIB), a large bank operating eight branches within the city, to advance its energy and mobility commitments. The bank is engaging in a €40 million upgrade in energy efficiency, and the City is providing promotional support through their website and social media.
Among engaged civil society organisations, Cork City Council provided direct financial and infrastructure support to the Ballyphehane Community Association (BCA), a long-standing and impactful community group. Funding from the municipality and other sources was directed towards infrastructural upgrades for projects like renovating their centre and increasing their renewable energy capacity.
Throughout the LGD signing process, a key moment was the public ceremony where certificates of participation were officially given by the Lord Mayor of Cork. The spotlight on these Local Green Deals gave public recognition and generated a momentum that is still ongoing.
©Paul McGuirk, 12 organisations receiving certificates in the Council Chambers with Cork’s Lord Mayor (2024)
What comes next? Building on the momentum
The success of these efforts already earned Cork City a prestigious recognition: in March, Cork City received an award from the EU Intelligent Cities Challenge in Brussels, Belgium, for ‘Highest number of local green deals of a consistently high quality’, and the Cork Chamber of Commerce won the “Best Collaboration of Chambers, Business and Government” category at the World Chambers Competition in Melbourne, Australia.
©Paul McGuirk, EU ICC Award Ceremony (2025)
The next steps for the project involve the soon-to-happen twelve-month review of the LGDs since their definition. This review, conducted collaboratively by the City Council and the Chamber, will evaluate progress, set new and potentially more ambitious targets for the next twelve months, and look at learnings that can already be applied in a new batch of recruitment.
The City intends to build on this momentum: the goal is to sustain this "every action matters" across society and ensure that businesses share their learnings with their peers, rather than relying solely on the local authority to spread the message. Moreover, the LGD process is being used as part of funding and advice provided to community groups.
Cork City Council, Cork Chamber and community engagement
The successful launch of these efforts was in large part thanks to the already strong collaboration Cork City has with Cork Chamber of Commerce, a key business representative body comprising 1,200 members.
The Chamber played a central role in mobilising the business community and triggering the interest of local businesses to define actions supporting local climate objectives, whilst guaranteeing a diversity of private entities.
The collaboration in the pilot phase was proposed to the Chamber of Commerce board members and engaged seven of them. The Chamber was also essential in accompanying the businesses as they defined the LGDs. This close support is particularly helpful for the small and medium-sized enterprises, who, despite having sustainability high on their agenda, often need guidance on where to start and help identifying potential focus areas, such as energy or water conservation, as well as defining actions.
Obstacles, lessons learnt and potential for scalability
Time-intensity has been identified among the key challenges. Building a strong relationship and guiding the engaged stakeholders in the definition of a joint agreement takes time, and the process is difficult to automate, as it requires substantial one-to-one discussions with individual businesses and a tailored and flexible approach, particularly in the SMEs ecosystem. Cork did not have a dedicated staff person, and the work has been embedded in existing activities.
Still, the experience gained in this first year of tandem enabled the city to identify some patterns that will help define a more focused approach moving forward. The willingness to pursue the collaboration – and even to expand it to more businesses in the next iteration – confirms Cork’s dedication to this cooperation.
Senior Executive Officer at Cork City Council, Paul McGuirk’s recommendation to other signatories looking to tap into the potential of the local business ecosystem is to build on existing networks. Cork successfully leveraged its connections with Cork Chamber to engage the business community, using the Chamber as an amplifier and tapping into its members. City Councils might decide to identify specific sectors that make the most sense for traction and impact, depending on the local economy.
Cork’s key piece of advice for any city wanting to replicate this process is to “make sure you’re able to dedicate the time” and manage expectations based on available resources, recognising the labour-intensive nature of dialogue required to achieve meaningful, tangible outcomes and to avoid greenwashing.
Cork, Irland
Covenant Signatory since 2016
Population: 224,004 (2022)
Area covered: Local (187km2)
Key figures
12 Local Green Deals closed, engaging:
- 2 large companies
- 5 SMEs
- 3 Non-profit/Civil Society associations
- University College Cork (UCC)
- Cork Chamber of Commerce
GHG emissions ambitions:
- Climate neutrality by 2030 (Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission)
- % GHG emissions reductions by 2050: 100%
Related links
Cork City Council Business Support
Cork City named the number one small city in Europe for FDI strategy among multiple top 3 finishes