The primary aim of this release, which is part of the Business in Ireland series is to raise awareness around ESG and corporate responsibility, and what it will increasingly mean for a range of Irish enterprises. This release leverages existing data sources, with additional data to be provided over time as the legislative and enterprise landscapes evolve over the coming years.
ESG information aims to help investors and other stakeholders have access to the information they need to assess the impact of companies on people and the environment, and for investors to assess financial risks and opportunities arising from climate change and other sustainability issues. For example, the long-term sustainability of an enterprise in a zero/low carbon future. The broad policy context relates to national and EU climate action plans which state as their objective to be at “net zero” emissions by 2050.
This chapter contains 10 data tables highlighting different areas that can impact the environment. The list below highlights where this data was sourced from or the publication that it was originally published in. While the following sections contain some summary definitions and explanations, please note that detailed technical notes, definitions and additional data tables are contained within the original publications.
This chapter contains 7 data tables highlighting different areas that can impact social and governance matters. The list below highlights where this data was sourced from or the publication that it was originally published in. While the following sections contain some summary definitions and explanations, please note that detailed technical notes, definitions and additional data tables are contained within the original publications.
Tables 2.1 - 2.2 (b): Reflect territorial principle greenhouse gas emissions, which are emissions produced on the territory of Ireland. They differ from the residence principle emissions Included in the Environmental Accounts Air Emissions which are emissions by resident units of the Irish economy.
For example, the road transport emissions of an Irish haulier driving in France are not included in Ireland's emissions inventory under the territorial principle but are included under the residence principle. Similarly, the emissions arising from the activity of an Irish airline flying from England to Italy are assigned to Ireland under the residence principle but not under the territorial principle. On the other hand, emissions from fuel sales to owners of non-Irish registered vehicles in Ireland are included in the inventory as territorial emissions but are excluded under the residence principle.
Ireland's emissions are reported annually by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and are used to determine whether Ireland has met its legally binding emissions targets. Parties are required to compile a National Inventory Report (NIR) and up-to-date annual inventories in an electronic Common Reporting Format (CRF) as the key components of their annual submissions. The CRF requires that inventories are reported under the territorial principle.
Tables 2.3 - 2.5 (b): Business energy consumption data are based on the National Accounts residence principle. This means that energy purchased abroad by enterprises resident in Ireland is included. Energy purchased in Ireland by foreign resident enterprises is not included e.g. fuel purchased by foreign road hauliers in Ireland. The territorial principle, which is used in Energy Balances and in the Greenhouse Gas Emission inventory, does not include energy purchased abroad by enterprises resident in Ireland but includes energy purchased in Ireland by enterprises that are not resident in Ireland e.g. foreign road hauliers. This methodological difference is particularly important for aviation transport fuels.
Table 2.6: Gross electricity production is published by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) in its annual Energy in Ireland report. Gross electricity production is measured at the output terminals of the main generator or inverter; it therefore includes the energy taken by station auxiliaries and losses in transformers that are considered integral parts of the station. The difference between gross and net production is the amount of own use of electricity in the generation plants.
Table 2.7: The data on metered electricity consumption are extracted by the CSO from meter data received from the Electricity Supply Board (ESB Networks). The data provided to the CSO covered all meters connected to the mains electricity network. Data centres were not readily identifiable in the meter data so the CSO examined around 2.5 million meters to identify Meter Point Reference Numbers (MPRNs) that were considered as primarily being used for data centre activity. The CSO looks for both new Meter Point Reference Numbers for existing data centres as well as for new data centres. A small number of data centres accounted for most of the metered electricity consumption by data centres.
The CSO used four main approaches to identify data centres:
In addition, reports produced by other organisations, the CSO Business Register, and internet searches are used to supplement our work.
Table 2.8: Statistics on waste generation are compiled the basis of the Regulation on waste statistics (EC) No.2150/2002, amended by Commission Regulation (EU) No. 849/2010, data on the generation and treatment of waste is collected from the Member States. All values are measured in tonnes of waste.
Table 3.1: Contains employment data sourced from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The primary classification used for the LFS results is the ILO (International Labour Office) labour force classification. Labour Force Survey data on this basis have been published since 1988.
In Employment: Persons who worked in the week before the survey for one hour or more for payment or profit, including work on the family farm or business and all persons who had a job but were not at work because of illness, holidays etc. in the week. It should be noted that as per Eurostat’s operational implementation, the upper age limit for classifying a person as employed is 89 years.
Table 3.2: Average weekly earnings are sourced from The Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey (EHECS). EHECS is a survey that collects earnings, labour cost, hours and employment data from enterprises each quarter. Weekly earnings are calculated by taking total earnings for the quarter, divided by the average number of persons employed during the quarter divided by 13 (number of weeks in a quarter).
Table 3.3 (a) and Table 3.3 (b): Distribution of earnings in employment by gender are based on a data-matching exercise of three administrative data sources:
The linkage and analysis was undertaken by the CSO for statistical purposes in line with the Statistics Act, 1993 and the CSO data protocol. before using personal administrative data for statistical purposes, the CSO removes all identifying personal information including the Personal Public Service Number (PPSN). the PPSN is a unique number that enables individuals to access social welfare benefits, personal taxation and other public services in Ireland.
Annual earnings represent the total gross annual amount (before deduction of tax, PRSI and superannuation) payable by the enterprise to its employees. This information is obtained from employee tax data provided by the Revenue Commissioners. It includes bonuses and benefit in kind (BIK). It excludes pension payments and severance payments.
Table 3.4: The Gender Balance in Business Survey provides official statistics from the CSO on gender representation in Senior Executive teams and Boards of Directors of large enterprises in Ireland. The survey was conducted in response to the Balance for Better Business initiative and it aims to provide benchmark information on gender representation. The 2023 survey is the third iteration of the survey which repeats every two years.
The scope of the survey is large enterprises (i.e. those with over 250 employees). A total of nearly 700 enterprises were surveyed and the response rate to the survey was 69%. The survey returns analysed in this report comprise about 6,500 persons in Senior Executive positions or on Boards of Directors in the respondent enterprises.
Recorded Crime statistics are produced on a quarterly basis by the Central Statistics Office. The Recorded Crime electronic publication and related tables provide statistical information on the volume and type of crimes recorded by An Garda Síochána (AGS).
Table 3.5: Contains selected business related crime data from Q2 2018 to Q2 2023. This crime falls under the category of 'Fraud, Deception & Related offences’. From Q3 2023 onwards this category has been revised to reflect only those incidents reported directly to the Gardai by members of the public. This is due to the effect of the backlog in processing suspected fraud crime incidents reported to the Gardaí by Financial Institutions under Section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2011. Data from Q3 2023 onwards is therefore no longer comparable to those published for the period prior to Q3 2023.
Table 3.6: The Labour Force Survey (LFS) includes the following question which is directed to all respondents who are employees at the time of interview:
Are you a member of a trade union or staff association which represents its members in labour and industrial relations issues?
1 Yes
2 No
This approach has been used over a period of years and therefore the results present a time-series which is consistent in terms of its scope, namely the number and percentage of employees in employment at the time of interview who are union members. In addition, the LFS series provide a range of breakdowns which cannot be derived from other available sources such as union membership by gender, industry, occupation, age etc.
The ‘statistical classification of economic activities’ in the European Community, abbreviated as NACE, is the classification of economic activities in the European Union (EU). The term NACE is derived from the French title: Nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans la Communauté européenne. Various NACE versions have been developed since 1970. The newest version is NACE revision 2 update 1 (NACE Rev. 2.1), which is to be used for European statistics from 2025 onwards. It was adopted by the European Commission in October 2022. For European statistics referring to the period 2008-2024, the members of the European Statistical System (ESS) are using the version of NACE Revision 2 that was published in 2006 (NACE Rev. 2).
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