Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Senator Kim Carr has launched the $75 million Re-tooling for Climate Change grants program.
The program will offer small and medium sized manufacturers grants ranging from $10,000 to $500,000 to help them reduce the environmental impact of their production processes.
"This program is part of the Rudd Government's commitment to work in partnership with industry to reduce Australia's carbon footprint," Senator Carr said.
"Re-tooling will have a dual benefit of tackling climate change and putting manufacturing businesses on a more sustainable footing.
"It is about better outcomes for the environment and greater efficiencies for our manufacturers who must be part of our low-carbon future."
Senator Carr said Australian manufacturers were already responding to climate change by reducing their energy consumption while continuing to increase production and exports.
He added that this program would accelerate these efforts.
The climate ready grants will meet up to one-third of the costs of projects to improve energy or water efficiency of production processes.
Support will be provided for initiatives such as small-scale cogeneration plants that capture waste energy and use it to produce electricity on site; stormwater capture and improved water recycling, use in the production process; improving insulation and recovering waste heat to improve manufacturing process efficiency; and process re-engineering involving the adoption of energy efficient manufacturing tools.
Re-tooling for Climate Change is part of the Government's $240 million Clean Business Australia initiative designed to establish a partnership with business and industry to deliver energy and water efficient projects with a focus on productivity and innovation.
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