Sustainability Innovation Fund (Pilot)

The Sustainability Innovation Fund is a Screen Ireland pilot grant covering the cost of a specific sustainability innovation embedded into a production already in receipt of Screen Ireland funding. It is not a fee — it pays for the kit, the supplier, or the measure itself. Examples: a hybrid-battery package, an EV transport pilot, an HVO bunkering arrangement, a circular-economy set-strike contract, a biodiversity-protection plan on a sensitive location.

The fund is distinct from the Sustainability Advisor Initiative (Pilot) which pays the advisor's fee. The two are designed to be claimed together: the Advisor Initiative pays the advisor to recommend an innovation; the Innovation Fund pays for the innovation the advisor recommends.

What it covers

Eligibility

The production must be:

• In receipt of Screen Ireland production funding — the fund is a top-up to existing SI funding, not a standalone scheme
• A live-action or animated feature or television production

Recipient must be an Irish production company. Suppliers and service providers may collaborate on the innovation but the recipient of the funding is the production company.

Priority areas

Screen Ireland prioritises innovations in four areas:

1. Energy — renewable / efficient power sources, battery packages, mains-power switching
2. Waste & Circular Economy — set-strike reuse pathways, costume circulation, waste-stream restructuring
3. Transport — EV fleets, HVO bunkering, public-transport schemes for crew
4. Protecting Nature — biodiversity assessment + protection plans on sensitive locations

Innovations outside these four areas may be considered but the priority routes get the fastest reads.

The mandatory case study

This is the defining condition. 25% of the awarded amount is retained until the production submits its case study at completion. The case study covers:

• What the innovation was
• What it cost and what it saved (carbon and money)
• What worked, what didn't, what other productions can learn
• Promotional materials Screen Ireland may publish (photos, video, soundbites)

Without the case study, the final 25% is not released.

The case study + Carbon Calculator results may be shared publicly by Screen Ireland.

Application artefacts

Six artefacts on the application:

1. 1–2 page project description — what the innovation is, why it matters
2. Detailed budget for the sustainability-attributable costs
3. Project timeline with the delivery date for the innovation
4. Scalability outline — how this learns transfers to future productions
5. Sustainability advisor / practitioner details — who is implementing
6. The application form

Pre-application consult

Producers must consult Michael Byrne — Inward Production & Sustainability Executive — before submitting. The consult is a soft gate but Screen Ireland makes clear that applications submitted without prior conversation are typically deferred. Use the consult to scope what "innovation" means in your context and which priority area it lands in.

When to apply

Rolling assessment — no fixed deadline. Applications are considered as they come in. Practical pacing: apply once you have the principal SI funding offer in hand and the production's pre-production planning has identified the specific innovation you want to fund.

Submission

Application form goes to: sustainabilityadvisors@screenireland.ie

The numbers worth remembering

How Togra supports this

When a project has Screen Ireland production funding awarded, the Sustainability tracker surfaces an eligible-top-ups panel linking directly into the Sustainability Innovation Fund funder round with the eligibility criteria, the €25k ceiling, the priority-area list, and the case-study retention rule visible inline. The fund appears in funder-rounds.php as a continuous rolling scheme — no missed deadlines because there are none.