AIB has pledged over €20 million of investment in new sustainability education and research initiatives.
The announcement was made at the recent AIB Kerry Sustainability event, held at the Brehon Hotel in Killarney.
The bank says its recognising the importance of quality education and innovation - in solving our global challenges and building a sustainable future for all.
The investment includes €10m for the new AIB Trinity Climate Hub at Trinity College Dublin.
Recognising the importance of quality education and innovation in solving our global challenges and building a sustainable future for all, AIB is committing over €20m in new sustainability focused
education and research initiatives, including €10m for the new AIB Trinity Climate Hub at Trinity College Dublin. The AIB Trinity Climate Hub will bring researchers together to address challenges
around maintaining a stable and liveable climate, securing biodiversity and the ecosystem services provided by nature, adapting to climate change, and reversing water degradation. As a founding
partner, AIB has also committed €10m to support world class PhD research through Innovate for Ireland, a public-private partnership and flagship initiative of Ireland’s Global Talent Strategy,
designed to attract and retain world class talent undertaking research to meet the challenges of the future. The initiative comes as AIB held a customer event in The Brehon Hotel today, featuring a panel
discussion with local business people making sustainable changes in their businesses. AIB Managing Director of Retail Banking Geraldine Casey hosted the event while Jonathan McCrea was MC.
Approximately 50 people attended the event to hear from Shane Finn, Co-Founder Outwest Clothing; Neil Grant, General Manager of The Brehon Hotel and Aurelien Gilbert, ESG Lead at Tricel
TK. Shane Finn is the co-founder of Outwest Clothing based in Dingle. Outwest is an outdoors clothing brand that is inspired by and made for the Irish outdoors. As of January 2024, Outwest is proud to be
a Certified B-Corp company, meeting the highest standards of environmental and social impact. Neil Grant manages The Brehon Hotel, which along with the Anú Spa is enrolled in the Green
Hospitality Programme, achieving Gold status in 2022. Aurelien Gilbert represents Tricel TK and is a Business Manager and ESG Lead. TK generates its turnover from the manufacture and sale of product from its Killarney factory. In 2021 TK began the installation phase of Ireland’s largest combined heat pump and Solar PV system at their Killarney facility. The total reduction in emissions from this project equates to 357,800 kg of CO2 per year, equivalent to emissions saved from powering 300 houses every year.
