Environment, Social and Governance Reporting: Data for the Enterprise Economy 2024

Introduction

This chapter begins our look at the contribution of Irish enterprises, across a wide spectrum of activities including environmental performance. We begin by setting the scene in terms of overall greenhouse gas emissions by Ireland over a long time period, as emission levels have begun to decline in recent years, the way in which enterprises are contributing to this change is increasingly being evaluated now – it is no longer sufficient to look at just the financial performance of enterprises but also the contribution (positive and negative) that enterprises make to our national emission levels.

What this chapter will show is the increase in the share of renewables in electricity generation, with positive changes also in the energy performance (BER rating) of non-domestic buildings over time. Data centres are an increasing consumer of electricity consumption, and a growing number of enterprises are now engaged in environmental innovation as a response to the changing expectations arising from climate change.

Greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 were 7.8% lower than 2018. The National Climate Ambition is for 2030 emissions to be 51% lower than 2018.

Provisional greenhouse gas emissions for Ireland for 2023, show a reduction of 6.8% compared to 2022, with emission reductions in almost all sectors. In total, 55 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO₂eq) were emitted, excluding emissions from Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF).

With regard to compliance with national commitments under the Climate Act 2015, greenhouse gas emissions (including LULUCF) are 7.8% lower than in 2018, with a distance to travel to the National Climate Ambition of a 51% reduction by 2030. See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1.

The Industry, Commercial and Public Services sector accounted for 14% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2023

The Industry, Commercial and Public Services sector accounted for 14% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, with other sectors contributing as follows:

• Agriculture was the sector with the highest greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland over the 1990-2023 period, accounting for almost 38% of the total CO₂ equivalent in 2023.
• The Transport share of greenhouse gas emissions increased from just over 9% in 1990 to 21.4% in 2023.
• The Energy sector’s share of greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 was the third largest sectoral contributor to emissions with 14.3% of the total. 
• Residential emissions have decreased from almost 14% in 1990 to less than 10% in 2023.
• Emissions from the Waste sector has remained at around 3% since 2017.

See Table 2.2.

Almost all sectors experienced lower emissions volumes in 2023 than in 2022, the Transport sector being the exception with a marginal increase of 0.3%. See Table 2.3.

Energy sector has the highest greenhouse gas emissions per employee in 2021

Table 2.4 shows the greenhouse gas emissions per employee across the 21 sectors of the economy.

Electricity, Gas & Steam had consistently the highest emissions, when measured on a per employee basis at over 1,000t CO₂e per employee between 2013 and 2015 before dropping to 697t CO₂e per employee in 2021. It is important to note these emissions are related to the power generated for use across all sectors of the economy, in particular Manufacturing and Information & Communications (ICT). Similarly, for Water Supply, Sewerage & Waste Management the emissions recorded relate to services such as incineration which are provided to sectors across the economy. See Table 2.4.

Other details to note include:

• Agriculture had the second highest greenhouse gas emissions per employee in 2021 but accounted for the largest proportion of greenhouse gas emissions of any sector.
• Manufacturing had the highest GVA per employee at close to €400,000 per employee from 2015 onwards, however the sector had one of the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per employee for much of the same period at under 30t CO2e per employee. These sectors rely heavily on electricity for production and the related emissions are recorded in the Electricity, Gas & Steam sector.
• The Electricity, Gas & Steam sector produced the highest emissions per employee, although they have fallen from 1,112t CO2e per employee in 2013 to 697t CO2e per employee in 2021, with the increased use of renewables.
• The Transportation & Storage sector experienced a fall in emissions per employee from 196t CO2e in 2019 to 90t CO2e in 2020, likely due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the rapid increase in GVA per employee over the period, there has not been a corresponding increase in emissions in the ICT sector. ICT emissions per employee remained at between 1 to 2t CO2e, while GVA per employee as presented in Figure 2.4 has been trending upwards since 2017 reaching €470,000 per employee in 2021. See Figure 2.3 and Figure 2.4.

Large increase in the use of renewables for primary energy production in 2022

The share of renewable energy in primary energy production increased from 5% of primary energy production in 1990 to 54% in 2022.

Looking at the other sources of primary energy production, we can see that:

Total primary energy production in Ireland was 3.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) in 1990. It fell to 1.3 million toe in 2012. In 2022 it was 3.2 million toe.

Natural gas, as a proportion of total primary energy production declined from just over half (54%) in 1990 to 6% in 2015.

Peat products peaked at 57% of total primary energy production in 2003, by 2022 the use of peat in energy production had fallen to 4% of this total. See Table 2.5.

Energy consumption

The cost of purchases of electricity and natural gas amounted to 62% of the total cost of energy purchases by enterprises in the Industry and Services sectors in 2021. See Figure 2.5.

Natural gas accounted for 4,379 ktoe in 2022, almost 31% of total ktoe consumption. Jet kerosene accounted for 5,096 ktoe, almost 36% of total ktoe consumption. See Table 2.6.

The Business Energy Use survey does not include the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing NACE sector. Across the Industry and Services sectors, 40% of energy use in 2022 was consumed by the Transportation and Storage sector (5,597 ktoe). The Electricity and Gas sector was the next highest with 27% of total energy use in 2022. Manufacture of Food, Beverages and Tobacco accounted for 5% and Public Administration for 2%. See Figure 2.6 and Table 2.7.

The distribution by NACE sector is quite different in terms of the monetary cost of energy purchases with the Transportation and Storage sector accounting for 37% of the total costs of energy purchases followed by the Electricity and Gas sector at 14% in 2022. See Table 2.8.

Data centres account for almost a fifth of metered electricity consumption in 2022

The percentage of total metered electricity consumption accounted for by data centres increased from 5% in 2015 to 18% in 2022.

Data centre consumption increased from 290 gigawatt hours in January to March 2015 to 1,450 GWh in October to December 2022. The increase in consumption was driven by a combination of existing data centres using more electricity and new data centres being added to the grid.

The total metered electricity consumption in 2022 was 29,500 GWh which was a 3.5% increase on 2021. See Figure 2.7 and Table 2.9.

Increase in networked gas consumption by power plants in 2022

Gas consumption by power plants was 8.1% higher in 2022 compared with 2021.

• Overall networked gas consumption was up 2.2% in 2022 compared with 2021, for a total of 56,617 gigawatt hours (gwh).
• Gas consumption by the non-residential sector was 3.1% lower in 2022. 

See Figure 2.8 and Table 2.10.

Increase in electricity generation from renewable sources in 2022

The share of renewable energy sources used in the generation of electricity in Ireland has increased from 5.1% in 1990 to 38.6% in 2022.

Wind is the main source of renewables used in electricity generation, with its share rising from 0% in 1990 to 33.1% of the total kilotonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe) used to generate electricity in Ireland in 2022. See Table 2.11.

Over 40% of newer build non-domestic buildings receive an “A” Building Energy Rating between 2020 and Q1 2024

BER audits have been conducted for 2,313 non-domestic buildings constructed between 2020 and Q1 2024. “A” ratings were awarded to 44% of these buildings, compared with 21% of the 1,654 BERs received by buildings constructed from 2015 to 2019, and 6% of those built from 2010 to 2014.

The most energy efficient non-domestic building types audited during 2009 to Q1 2024 were schools & colleges, with 46% receiving an “A” rating. The second most energy efficient buildings were nursing residential homes & hostels, with 13% rated “A”. The least energy efficient building types, defined by the highest proportion of “G” ratings, were workshops & maintenance depots (23%).

Including only the most recent audit for each building, 73,860 non-domestic buildings have received a BER since 2009. Of these, 3% received an “A” rating in their most recent audit, 14% a “B” rating, and 33% a “C” rating. See Table 2.12.

BER audits have been conducted for 2,313 non-domestic buildings constructed between 2020 and Q1 2024. “A” ratings were awarded to 44% of these buildings, compared with 21% of the 1,654 BERs received by buildings constructed from 2015 to 2019, and 6% of those built from 2010 to 2014. See Figure 2.9 and Table 2.13.

Nearly a fifth (18%) of enterprises report reducing their energy use of CO2 footprint in 2022

In a CSO survey of certain Irish enterprises, enterprises were asked about their environmental innovation. The most common type of environmental innovation reported in 2022 was reduced energy use or CO₂ footprint of the enterprise (18.2%), while the least common was protection of biodiversity for end users (5.3%). Other types of innovation reported were:

• Over 14% of enterprises recycled waste, water, or materials for own use or sale 
• Almost 14% of enterprises reduced energy or CO₂ footprint for end users (13.7%),
• Nearly 11% of enterprises replaced fossil energy with renewable sources.

In 2022, almost one-quarter (24.7%) of enterprises said increasing costs or input prices resulting from climate change was of high importance to their enterprise, including almost one-third (32.6%) of enterprises in Industry and large enterprises (32.4%). See Figure 2.10 and Table 2.14.