How businesses can start the journey of taking climate action

While once seen almost as an added extra, these days a robust sustainability plan is a must for businesses of all sizes, across every sector. Everyone is aware of the need to work together for the future of the planet, which starts with a transition to a low-carbon economy.

This is undoubtedly a challenge for businesses, but also for society as a whole, because Ireland must achieve a 51 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, so it requires a nationwide effort.

With this in mind, there is no denying that sustainability and strong ESG (environmental, social and governance) policies need to play a pivotal role in every Irish business as they begin, or indeed continue, on their journey towards a sustainable future. Organisations across the country have recognised the need for change and are keen to ensure they are doing all they can to implement and develop green policies.

“Engineers Ireland welcomed the introduction of the publication of the first Climate Action Plan 2021 and has further welcomed subsequent iterations of the plan,” said a spokesperson for Engineers Ireland.

“Climate breakdown and biodiversity collapse are the most serious issues of our time and Engineers Ireland strongly advocates for the principles and practices of sustainable development. Engineers have a well-acknowledged role to play in aiding climate action – and a recent survey of over 1,000 members of the public by Behaviour & Attitudes, on behalf of Engineers Ireland, found that 70 per cent of respondents believe engineers are critical to combating climate change and biodiversity loss.”

While protecting the environment is crucial, according to Enterprise Ireland, making your business more sustainable is not only the right thing to do for the planet, but also for your business and your customers. It’s key to winning business from large international customers and attracting top talent – and it starts with making a plan.

Susan Rossney, sustainability officer with Chartered Accountants Ireland, agrees and says the first step should be to publicly declare an intention towards implementing green policies.

“Climate action can seem daunting at first and it may sound obvious but a good start is making a public commitment to becoming net zero,” she said. “Not only does this demonstrate commitment to the company’s board, clients, employees (current and future) and other stakeholders, it acts as a north star to guide future decision-making.

“It is very important that companies build climate knowledge and also reach out to their network and find out what organisations of a similar size, sector or industry are doing. The next step would be to begin measuring carbon emissions. Often this information is already available on energy invoices and travel or freight data and there are also online calculators to convert this into a ‘carbon footprint’. And the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has a free Climate Toolkit for Business for organisations of all sizes and sectors.”

Rossney says that at this point, “businesses are often then in a position to create a net zero action plan”.

“This is essentially a scoping exercise to measure the work to be done in reducing emissions while also setting milestones for the company to follow,” she said. “Companies can also commission an internal energy audit which effectively means an energy auditor will come out to carry out a review of the premises, processes or systems and suggest ways to improve energy use. And the good news is that the SEAI offers SMEs a €2,000 voucher towards the audit cost to SMEs where a registered energy auditor is used.”

Indeed, according to SEAI, small and medium-sized businesses in Ireland spend over €2 billion annually on energy. But the average SME can reduce their energy bill by 20-30 per cent by implementing energy efficiency measures – and typically 10 per cent savings can be achieved with little or no capital cost.

But many companies will need support and guidance in ensuring that they deliver robustly on these policies and while SEAI has developed a series of practical educational tools to help businesses, including free online training resources, there is a wide range of other supports and education available to help firms, regardless of what stage they are currently at.

Susan Rossney says there are at least 60 third-level courses ranging from diploma to masters level across third-level institutes in Ireland at present.

“This is in addition to many courses offered by business organisations, professional associations and others,” she said. “Chartered Accountants Ireland, for example, has run six sold-out iterations of its Certificate in Sustainability Strategy, Risk and Reporting since October 2022.”

Engineers Ireland is also working towards helping businesses to learn how to succeed on their journey to a greener future.

“Engineers Ireland is directly involved in a considerable volume of sustainability-related work and seeks to educate and inspire a large audience, particularly our 25,000 members,” the spokesperson said. “We have embedded sustainability in our continuous professional development offering to members and have run over 70 training courses in the past year that featured sustainability as a theme.

“Engineers Ireland has also become the first organisation outside the UK to be licensed by the Society for the Environment to award the Chartered Environmentalist title, a professional title recognising environmental knowledge, understanding and skills to protect and enhance the environment in a sustainable way. Furthermore, Engineers Ireland supports third level institutions in embedding sustainability in engineering programmes, and sharing best practice, as part of an enhanced focus on climate issues.”

Enterprise Ireland also has a wide range of supports designed to assist its clients on their sustainability journey,

“These include consultancy advice, capacity building supports and financial grants for projects that reduce carbon emissions,” said Alexa Toomey, manager, Sustainability, Renewable Energy and Agtech at Enterprise Ireland.

“Our colleagues in the LEOs have a very similar offering for micro businesses – so our message is that we are here to help.”

Having a robust sustainability plan has become a critical part of any company’s growth strategy and Toomey adds that businesses need to be able to ‘show their customers and consumers that they are embracing the sustainability challenge if they want to win big in global markets’.