A World to Connect, a Future to Protect
As an island nation, Ireland’s economy and people are dependent on aviation as a key mode of travel to allow us to access Europe and further afield. It’s also key to doing business and staying connected with our friends and family, and importantly our Irish diaspora. Because of this, it is even more important that the aviation industry transitions to a more sustainable model, with all of us playing our part to reduce our climate impact.
As a commercial semi-state organisation, Dublin Airport is committed to achieving the 2030 carbon and energy reduction (Scope 1 and 2) targets set out by the Irish Government under the National Climate Action Plan. These targets require us to reach a 51% reduction in carbon emissions from a baseline year average of 2016-2018 and a 50% improvement in energy efficiency from a baseline year average of 2006-2008.
Dublin Airport has already exceeded its target of a 50% improvement in energy efficiency. We have delivered lighting upgrades, boiler efficiency improvement, and several other projects, coupled with continuous monitoring of metering, to lead to this improvement.
To date Dublin Airport has reduced carbon emissions by 22% when compared to the 2016-2018 baseline through a continued focus on the transition from fossil fuels to alternative and renewable sources. We recognise that this target is challenging and requires a significant investment to transition away from fossil fuels.
CARBON REDUCTION PROJECTS
In December 2023, Dublin Airport submitted an Infrastructure Application to the local authority. This application included nine impactful sustainability and carbon reduction projects. These projects are essential to shift the dial on our environmental impact as an airport. There are projects dealing with electric vehicle (EV) charging, supporting alternative aviation fuel, the installation of an anaerobic digestor to manage of organic waste, sustainable vehicle fleet replacement, a third phase of fixed electrical ground power (FEGP), a second phase of the photovoltaic solar farm, mobility improvements, and the development and design of sustainable upgrade programmes for Terminals 1 and 2.
A total investment of €400m will be dedicated to these sustainability projects. These projects will significantly reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and provide energy security as we transition from carbon-based energy sources. These projects will also enable our fuel and airline partners to decarbonise aviation fuel through the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and ground operations (electric ramp) to address our Scope 3 emissions.
NET ZERO TARGETS
With good progress made towards our 2030 targets, Dublin Airport has already begun looking beyond 2030. We have committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest, and recently appointed expert consultants to support us in setting Net Zero targets that limit warming to 1.5°C through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). SBTi will help set a clearly defined path to reduce emissions in line with the Paris Agreement goals and move us past our 2030 targets towards 2050.
In the interim, we are working closely with key stakeholders at our airport to support them to decarbonise their operations. Last year, we supported the introduction of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) as an alternative to diesel to power our heavy fleet and for use by third parties on campus. In 2024 we will continue our commitment to a ‘Diesel Free Dublin’, a continued focus on the transition of our light fleet to EV alternatives, the introduction of additional solar PV, promotion of active travel, and driving innovation to help us meet our commitments.
Our passengers, customers, people, and local communities are looking to us to be a responsible business that contributes to the economy, addresses the climate challenge, and drives the transition to a sustainable future for aviation. We are acting now for a sustainable future.
economy, now accounts for only 7% of overall emissions and continues to make good progress towards decarbonisation.
Size and scale are also an issue. Unsurprisingly, the report states that the likelihood that an agency client has developed a climate plan increases considerably with size. For Enterprise Ireland clients, micro enterprises (22%) are significantly less likely to have developed a climate plan than SMEs (36%) or large enterprises (74%). The same pattern holds for IDA Ireland clients.
The likelihood that a company measures its emissions also increases with firm size. Two thirds of large Enterprise Ireland client firms measured their emissions in 2021 compared with just 15% of SMEs and 6% of micro enterprises.
The report authors found that companies with a climate response plan are almost 22 times more likely to measure emissions than companies without a plan. For EI clients, large firms are nine times and SMEs 1.8 times more likely to have a climate response plan than micro firms.
The gaps between the larger State agency clients and the smaller ones highlights just how much more work needs to be done by a large swathe of Irish companies in progressing their climate action agenda.
Multiple funding programmes are in place to encourage businesses to embark or continue on a green transition. The €55m Green Transition Fund is designed to help businesses move away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable alternatives, and funds firms to develop a plan to reduce fossil fuel usage.
The Enterprise Emissions Reduction Investment Fund provides funding to businesses to invest in carbon neutral heating processes, energy monitoring and research and development. Both funds are delivered through Enterprise Ireland.
So why are many firms finding developing a climate response so challenging? The primary challenge is finding the time to do so. Almost half the EI clients responding to the ABSEI said other issues take precedence, while one in four cited funding for required investment as the main hurdle. Lack of external supports was cited by one in six respondents as their main excuse.
Breaking down the challenges by company size saw a greater proportion of smaller businesses citing funding as a blocker. Currently, EI offers green funding for clients through its Green Transition Fund, including a Climate Action Voucher or grant of €1,800.
Micro firms can avail of the Green for Business programme operated by Local Enterprise Offices. This starts with a webinar before two days of mentoring with a specialist green consultant. Further supports include an Energy Efficiency Grant of 50% of eligible costs up to a maximum grant of €5,000, and GreenStart, which aims to improve environmental performance through greater resource efficiency.
Given the findings of the survey and the complexity involved for companies embarking on a climate response plan from scratch, it may be that greater funding supports are required for micro firms and SMEs to kick-start their climate actions.
Overall, progress on climate action is being made by an increasing number of companies in Ireland, but the report authors observe that more work needs to be done among SME and micro enterprises to ensure that they are facilitated to establish climate response plans and reduce their emissions.
The report suggests: “Placing a requirement on businesses to develop a climate plan as a prerequisite condition for funding in the future could boost adoption of climate plans for agency clients. The agencies should also consider placing a requirement to complete the ABSEI survey as a condition for funding.”
Getting back to the big picture, making more of an upfront investment now in helping businesses to prepare and transition their companies would seem to be a sensible choice to make for the State.
“The findings suggest that funding, or possibly greater awareness of available funding, is required to alleviate the current challenges faced by enterprises in their development of a climate response plan,” the DETE report states. “In addition, research should investigate the capacity issues which currently act as a barrier to greater climate action in smaller enterprises.”
DETE officials also recommend that ABSEI respondents should be asked about the total spend on each energy source. This would allow for a rough calculation of emissions for companies that cannot supply emissions data. In addition, State aid recipients that measure their emissions should be asked to declare their total annual emissions. “This data could be a useful proxy indicator to measure the department’s progress towards decarbonising the enterprise base,” the report states.