A brickworks and a polyethylene plant are among 13 manufacturers Australia-wide to benefit from the Federal Government's Re-tooling for Climate Change program to reduce water use or greenhouse gas emissions in their production process.

Innovation minister, Kim Carr, announced that the successful applicants will receive grant offers totalling $2.8 million under the program's fourth round.

"The projects funded cover a range of strategies, including water treatment and recycling, converting production waste into energy, re-using waste heat from the production process, technology investment and process re-engineering to cut energy or water consumption," Carr says.

Changes to the administration of the program will, according to the minister, improve access and the quality of service available to manufacturers.

"Previously, applications have been assessed in rounds closing every few months. In future, decision making committees will meet more frequently to move towards continuous assessment of applications. This will provide increased confidence for businesses to commit to projects and bring forward their applications," Carr says.

Re-tooling for Climate Change offers dollar for dollar grants from $10,000 to $500,000 to help small and medium Australian manufacturers to improve the energy and/or water efficiency of their production processes.