Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their contributions. I have read their statements. How will the State implement the embodied carbon targets going forward and is there a plan for doing so? I am glad to welcome all the witnesses here today. I am a little disappointed that the Department official could not make it.

However as members know and it may have been discussed - I am sorry I missed the first part of this session - buildings are currently responsible for 39% of global energy-related carbon emissions according to the number I have to hand. Of that, 28% is from operational emissions, that is, the energy needed to heat, cool, light and power them and the remaining 11%, according to my research, is from embodied carbon of materials both globally and here. Embodied carbon emissions come from materials in the following way, initially by extraction through to manufacture, fabrication, construction, maintenance and end-of-life disassembly. Moreover, it is important to note that the material at whatever stage of its life cycle has to be transported between all of the aforementioned processes. which adds to the embodied carbon load of any particular material. From my research over the past number of years and in particular from meeting with various stakeholders throughout the country, Ireland definitely lags behind other EU jurisdictions when it comes to reducing our emissions in the built environment and in particular CO2 emissions. While we have done really well with Part L and that end of it, the Dutch, the Danes, the French, the Finns and the Swedes are all in the process of preparing life-cycle carbon targets. The term describes operational and embodied emissions combined. It is that combined effort. The UK is storming ahead with its London energy transformation initiative. It is an amazing document and I recommend it to anybody to read. There is an embodied carbon primer that goes with it. It is a comprehensive protocol that aligns with the Irish Green Building Council’s thinking on how we set targets on procurement methodologies to reduce embodied carbon.

A transition plan is required and the best route, from my understanding of the construction procurement system, is through clear carbon targets. This should be somewhat akin to the Part L energy conservation guidelines where we use the building energy rating, BER, code. That is where we need to get to at some stage; I am not sure when that will happen.

I had two questions for the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications but I have changed them slightly so there are now three questions for the SEAI. Has the Department engaged with the SEAI to begin the process of establishing embodied carbon targets? Are the representatives from the SEAI aware whether legislatively these targets can be introduced by way of ministerial regulation? In its opening statement, the SEAI noted it received €440 million in budget 2022. How much of this budget is allocated towards embodied carbon research and funding for pilot projects endeavouring to exercise construction methodologies and materials that reduce embodied carbon?