A new initiative aims to encourage firms to realise both the environmental and business benefits of reducing CO2 emissions, writes Frank Dillon
CORPORATE IRELAND is waking up to the climate change message and a growing number of firms are working to reduce their carbon footprint, ie the impact of their activities on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.
EmissionZero, an initiative launched in Dublin last night involving several leading Irish companies, highlights the benefits to businesses of reducing their carbon footprint.
Law practice McCann Fitzgerald is one of the participants in EmissionZero. According to the firm’s Denise Kenny, McCann Fitzgerald’s energy use has been reduced by 27 per cent through its involvement in the scheme, with a further reduction of 15 per cent expected in the next two years.
Practical measures included varying the temperature at which water was heated in the office based on need, and setting copiers and printers to print double-sided documents, which reduced paper consumption significantly.
While the cost-saving benefits are valuable in these straitened times, Kenny says staff are more clearly motivated by the green aspect of the initiative. “There is a very high level of awareness of the need to be environmentally responsible and the message about reducing carbon footprint really hits home,” she says.
The EmissionZero initiative is an offshoot of Ecocem, an Irish provider of environmentally friendly cement from an industrial byproduct called blast furnace slag. Ecocem has plants in Dublin, the Netherlands and France that produce low C02 emissions cement.
Managing director Donal O’Riain acknowledges it launched EmissionZero “as a platform to promote our main business, which aims to help organisations minimise their carbon footprint, so there was a good fit”. He says the project simply aims to cover its costs rather than make a profit.
EmissionZero has three strands, he says: participating companies receive an independent evaluation of their carbon footprint, a strategy is worked out to reduce this, and they have the opportunity to purchase carbon offsets. The cost of the offsets is usually exceeded by the reduction in energy running costs and the offset credits can also be sold on to other businesses such as utility suppliers on carbon trading exchanges, he says.
McCann Fitzgerald, in common with the other firms participating in the scheme, has purchased carbon offset credits. According to O’Riain, these are currently trading at up to €10 per tonne of CO2 emissions.
McCann Fitzgerald’s Kenny says the initiative has had some unexpected benefits. An increasing number of multinational clients now include queries about law firms’ environmental credentials in tenders for work, she says.
The EmissionZero initiative is not confined to large firms. The Sycamore Club, a private members’ club based in Temple Bar, is one of a number of smaller businesses that have signed up. Owner Conor Martin says that, among other initiatives, the club has installed solar panels and a wood-pellet-fuelled heating system.
It has also introduced a novel scheme whereby staff are given a 50 per cent subsidy on the cost of purchasing a second-hand bicycle.
“There is very little incentive at Government or national level to purchase anything second-hand, which is sending out the wrong message,” he says.
Martin says he has reduced energy consumption at the club by about 20 per cent which, he says, is a huge help in reducing overheads. “Saving money is a incentive, certainly, but it’s really about social responsibility. Businesses have a key leadership role to play in this area,” he says.
Other companies participating in EmissionZero include Deloitte, the Electric Picnic festival, the Convention Centre Dublin, MosArt architects, CCP Recruitment, web development firm Xwerx and eco-friendly directory blog GreenMe.ie.
