Mr. Michael Maloney:

It does have an impact and farmers are required to give us the information. We must get it from them. We have also developed, with Teagasc, a carbon navigator tool, a tool that combines the economic performance of farms with their greenhouse gas emissions. With the carbon navigator tool, we can demonstrate what effect achieving certain efficiencies on a farm would have on its carbon footprint and profitability. A good example to illustrate what I mean is looking at the length of the grazing season, which in part of the country might be 290 days. If it could be increased to 300 days, it would have an effect on the carbon footprint because animals on grass have less of an effect on the environment than animals which are housed indoors. It is also cheaper and more economic to keep animals on grass. It increases the efficiency of the farm and also profitability. That is how farmers are members of Origin Green.

Companies are also members of Origin Green. We have mentioned that there are 282 companies that are verified members of Origin Green and that account for over 90% of exports. For a company to be a member of Origin Green, it has to sign up to a charter. It has to set targets to achieve sustainability. Companies must set targets for raw material sourcing, manufacturing processes and social sustainability, including health and nutrition, worker welfare and so on. They are not targets they can just set by themselves and get a pass on them. SGS which is internationally recognised as a world leader in auditing and verification analyses the targets for individual companies and only if it is satisfied that they are stretch targets, realistic and credible can a company become a verified member of Origin Green. Companies have to meet these targets; set out a three-year plan and submit them to us for analysis on an annual basis to show they have met the targets. In addition to the 282 companies that have been verified, we have another 300 that are registered but not yet over the line because they are in the process of toing and froing with us on the setting and credibility of the targets they are setting.