More Funding to Fight Climate Change

Innovative companies and organizations in Nova Scotia have seven weeks left to apply for funding for environmental technologies that will help them be more green by reducing energy use, harmful air emissions and costs.

Nova Scotia's ecoNova Scotia Fund for Clean Air and Climate Change is adding $1.25 million dollars to the Environmental Technologies Program which helps businesses pay for technologies that lead to emission reductions. This brings the total investment in the funding program to almost $10.8 million. The fund is administered by the provincial Department of Environment.

"As the Premier and I prepare to attend the United Nations conference on climate change, in Copenhagen, I am pleased to announce extra funding to reduce air emissions in our province," said Environment Minister Sterling Belliveau. "We are strengthening this program to strengthen the fight against climate change."

The program funds eligible companies and organizations that can show their technological innovations increase energy efficiencies that lead to reduced greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions.

"I encourage eligible applicants to promptly submit their proposals for funding," said Mr. Belliveau.

There are many types of businesses that can receive funding from the program, including manufacturing plants that plan to re-engineer processing equipment to cut energy use and be more cost-effective, and builders of products that reduce energy use and save consumers money. So far, 4.8 million dollars of the program's original investment has been committed to projects. With today's added funding, the Environmental Technologies Program now has almost 6 million to be allocated before the deadline.

The extra funding in the program will help the province meet its targets stated in its Climate Change Action Plan and the Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act, the first comprehensive package of legislated environmental goals in Canada.

The province is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to at least 10 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, and to significant drops in air pollutant levels by 2010.

Applicants for funding under the Environmental Technologies Program must submit application forms to ecoNova Scotia before Jan. 31.

This is the final round of funding from ecoNova Scotia which began in 2007 with an original grant of $42.5 million from the government of Canada.

To learn more and obtain an application form for ecoNova Scotia funding, go to www.gov.ns.ca/ecoNovaScotia.