Initiative will definitively explore a co-operative model for biorefineries

A pioneering feasibility study has been launched in Ireland’s mid-west to explore a new co-operative model for biorefineries that can unlock fresh investment and create strong market opportunities for rural regions. The study is designed to demonstrate how co-operative enterprise can be at the centre of Ireland’s growing bioeconomy.

Led by the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) in partnership with Climate KIC, Europe’s leading climate innovation agency, the study has received backing from the Government, the European Union, South-East Regional Assembly, Enterprise Ireland and the Golden Jubilee Trust. It has an advisory committee representing a “Who’s Who” of agriculture, climate, energy, research, financial and sustainability interests.

The Collaborative Bio-Industrial Alliance (to be called Comhar BIA) will assess how co-operatives and their members can work together to turn agricultural and food processing by-products into high-value outputs such as renewable energy, natural fertilisers, bio-materials, chemicals and food and feed ingredients. Comhar is the Irish for Co-operation.

By developing regional, co-owned biorefineries, the project aims to deliver new income streams for farmers, attract sustainable investment, and strengthen rural economies, while also supporting Ireland’s national goals for decarbonisation and industrial transformation.

Biorefineries have the potential to create significant value in regional economies while realising the decarbonisation potential of multiple sectors.

The project centres around the concept of co-operatives as an initial focal point to identify complementary partners, feedstocks, processes and market outputs so that a regional co-owned biorefinery can be appropriately sized, sited, funded and developed.

The Study and how it will work – Bioeconomy in practice

The study will assess the technical and economic viability of a regional biorefinery model based on co-operative ownership, focusing on anaerobic digestion as a core technology, with potential for integrating other complementary technologies over time.

It will also explore the feasibility of establishing an enabling shared services entity to support and drive the commercialisation of collaborative bioeconomy projects.

Following a competitive expression of interest process in early 2025, Arrabawn-Tipperary Co-operative was selected to participate in the initial study, based on its access to suitable feedstock from dairy processing side streams and location within a discrete rural catchment.

The techno-economic analysis will be conducted by engineering consultancy firm AtkinsRéalis, with strategic input and guidance from ICOS and Climate KIC. It is expected to be completed by late autumn 2025.

TJ Flanagan, CEO of the Irish Co-operative Organisation (ICOS) said:

“These biorefineries could bring significant economic opportunities for regions while accelerating decarbonisation across multiple sectors. Centring the project on co-operatives ensures a locally-led approach, complemented by the right partners, feedstocks, pathways and market outputs so that each biorefinery is appropriately located, sized, funded and developed with the communities it serves”.

Denyse Julien, Project lead at Climate KIC said:

“Comhar BIA is a bold reimagining of how Ireland can use its bioeconomy potential to drive regional decarbonisation and economic renewal. What makes this initiative unique is its co-operative backbone, bringing farmers, processors, local authorities and communities together to co-develop shared bio-industrial infrastructure. Climate KIC is proud to have co-developed this approach, helping to shape a scalable model that goes beyond anaerobic digestion to embrace a full spectrum of biotechnologies. This is exactly the type of systemic innovation we need; designed to deliver climate impact, rural resilience and industrial transformation.”

The project is led by the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) where Bioeconomy Executive, John Brosnan has been working collaboratively across the co-operative, public, research and wider industrial sectors since 2023.  This work culminated in a partnership between ICOS and Climate KIC, Europe’s leading climate innovation agency.

Next steps

Momentum is growing in Ireland around the potential of bioeconomy, with Bioeconomy Ireland Week in October and the Global Bioeconomy Summit in 2026 set to advance collaboration and investment in sustainable, circular bio-based solutions.

The Comhar BIA project has already attracted interest from other regions, and further funding will be sought to further develop the engineering design and business model for this first proposed facility, to develop subsequent facilities and to established a networked shared services function. 

The Comhar BIA project is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union through the ERDF Southern, Eastern & Midland Regional Programme 2021-2027

The project is supported by a feasibility study grant of €50,000 by Enterprise Ireland under their ERDF backed ‘Smart Regions Innovation Fund’, with matched funding from the Golden Jubilee Trust, the charitable trust promoting the co-operative movement and agriculture in Ireland.

ENDS

More information about:

Comhar BIA

The ‘Comhar BIA’ or Collaborative Bio-industrial Alliance project is a partnership established by ICOS and Climate KIC to collaboratively develop co-owned commercial biorefineries, taking into account the needs of diverse regional stakeholders and priorities from across the ‘quintuple helix’ spectrum. A project advisory committee has been formed to support the project team. The first advisory committee meeting took place in May 2025 with attendees from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, Teagasc, Munster Technological University, Bank of Ireland, the Irish Strategic Investment Fund, The Irish Bioeconomy Foundation, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, and Gas Networks Ireland.

ICOS

ICOS is the umbrella organisation for the co-operative movement in Ireland – including dairy processing co-operatives and livestock marts – whose associated businesses have a combined turnover in the region of €16 billion, with some 175,000 individual members, employing 12,000 people in Ireland, and a further 24,000 people overseas. In total, there are some 1,000 co-ops in Ireland, and the largest 100 organisations employ approximately 40,000 people.

ICOS promotes the co-operative model as a means of enhancing the competitiveness, sustainability, and profitability of its members in the agri-food sector. www.icos.ie

The Golden Jubilee Trust

The Golden Jubilee Trust is a charitable trust with the primary objectives of promoting, developing and improving the co-operative movement and the industry of agriculture in Ireland.

Climate KIC

Climate KIC is Europe’s leading climate innovation agency and community, creating climate-resilient communities and fighting climate breakdown by mobilising systems change in countries, regions, cities, and businesses. Together with partners across the globe, Climate KIC orchestrates solutions and facilitates learning to bridge the gap between climate commitments and current reality, driving faster and more ambitious action. 

In Ireland, Climate KIC partners with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to accelerate pathways to climate neutrality in the land and agri-food system. This includes the recent launch of major initiatives in climate-neutral technologies on dairy farms, and pilots in AI, climate, and agri-food in partnership with Dogpatch and Salesforce. For more information, visit www.climate-kic.org.  For media inquiries, please contact media@climate-kic.org.

Arrabawn-Tipperary Co-operative

Arrabawn Tipperary Co-operative Society, was formally established in March 2025 following the merger of Arrabawn and Tipperary Co-operative societies. The newly formed society, which has a combined history of over 200 years in dairying, will be owned and controlled by over 4,800 members. More than 1,400 farmers across 16 counties, will supply 750 million litres of milk annually with projected annual turnover of in excess of €700 million.

Arrabawn-Tipperary’s operations include two primary ingredient manufacturing facilities at Nenagh and Tipperary, processing almost 900 million litres of milk products annually, 15 agri trading stores, including flagship facilities at Nenagh, Tipperary Town and Athenry. One of Ireland’s leading feed brands, Dan O’Connor Feeds, and French based cheese production facility, Tippagral.

About AtkinsRéalis

AtkinsRéalis is one of the world’s leading providers of engineering professional consulting and support services and employs 37,500 staff worldwide and more than 350 staff in Ireland with offices in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Dundalk and Belfast. We possess a significant breadth of knowledge and depth of skills and experience for the ultimate benefit of our clients.

Through our strategy AtkinsRéalis is taking full advantage of digital transformation to improve the efficiency and productivity of infrastructure delivery through best-in-class capabilities in engineering, design and project management, by using technology such as GIS and BIM to deliver innovative projects to our clients We have put Sustainability at the heart of our business strategy, embedding our approach to Sustainability across what we do. https://atkinsrealis.ie/

The Smart Regions Innovation Scheme:

Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme supported under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is aimed at accelerating economic growth in all regions of the country, by working with stakeholders to deliver on their potential regional enterprise strengths, taking an entrepreneurial ecosystem approach aligned with Ireland’s new Smart Specialisation Strategy.

Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme has an acute focus on enterprise development, consistent with Enterprise Ireland’s strategy to 2024 Leading in a Changing World.  

The Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme will support the development of innovative services through local infrastructure, innovation clusters, services to SME’s and early stage feasibility and priming research.

These projects shall be based on a triple helix model, enterprise led and:   

• Collaborative in nature
• Innovative
• Financially viable (must be profitable business propositions in the case of Infrastructure projects)  
• Sustainable
• Focused on delivering metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) which provide additionality to the existing regional infrastructure.

What is provided?

The Scheme has 4 Streams, which shall support the following activities/projects. The call document is the reference document that provides a detailed description of the call.

The scheme, with a total value of €145.3m will support: 

• Local Infrastructure projects
• Innovation clusters & consortia
• Services to SMEs to drive innovation solutions  
• Feasibility and Priming Grants 

Further info: https://www.enterprise-ireland.com/en/supports/smart-regions-enterprise-innovation-fund

www.icos.ie