Written answers

Wednesday, 4 July 2007

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

9:00 pm

Photo of Jack WallJack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 19: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the carbon footprint of each of the agencies under the remit of his Department to date in 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18609/07]

Photo of Willie PenroseWillie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 23: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps he is taking to offset the carbon emissions caused by official travel of Ministers and staff of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18613/07]

Photo of Mary UptonMary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 32: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps he is taking to offset the carbon emissions caused by official travel of staff of agencies under the remit of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18617/07]

Photo of Jack WallJack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 54: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps he has taken to offset the carbon emissions of his State car; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18610/07]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 62: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps he is taking to minimise the carbon footprint of agencies under the remit of his Department; the carbon auditing that has been undertaken by agencies under the remit of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18594/07]

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 19, 23, 32, 54 and 62 together.

The Government reiterated in its Programme for Government commitments made in the recently published National Climate Change Strategy 2007-2012,(NCC) of 33% energy savings across the public sector by 2020 (3% per annum). The Strategy sets out measures to be adopted by the Public Sector to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These include a requirement that each public sector body adopt greenhouse gas reduction targets, and measure and report progress on achieving these targets in their annual reports. In addition, the NCC Strategy and Programme for Government, has decided that, pending the inclusion of aviation in the Emissions Trading Scheme, it will voluntarily introduce a carbon offsetting scheme for all air travel on Government business, in support of urban forests. The strategy does not however, contain specific requirements for Government Departments to offset carbon emissions from the use of State cars. The management of the fleet of State cars is, of course, the responsibility of the Garda Síochána.

My Department is adopting measures in line with the strategy to reduce its carbon emissions. The approach is to take measures which will reduce the overall emissions of my Department, rather than to identify individual causes of greenhouse gas emissions and individually seek to offset emissions on an item by item basis.

To minimize the carbon footprint of my Department in its daily operations, my Department through its Green Team, which was established some years ago, continues to implement the following actions:

Ensure that the Office of Public Works, which looks after the replacement of electric light bulbs in my Department's buildings, uses energy efficient bulbs and long life bulbs wherever possible when electric light bulbs are being replaced;

Ensure that the central heating arrangements for the Department's buildings are switched on and off to achieve optimum energy efficiency;

Ensure that the staff in the Department:

1.switch off all their computer equipment (base units, monitors and peripheral devices) at the end of each working day;

2.switch off their PC monitors at lunch time and while attending meetings etc;

3.ensure that the last person leaving each individual office switches off all electric lights, printers, photocopiers and heaters.

My Department will continue to monitor its energy consumption and will where practicable continue to implement steps to minimise the carbon footprint of the Department in its daily activities. Under the National Climate Change Strategy 2007-2012 it is understood that specific data on greenhouse gas emissions will be collated in respect of the public sector in general by the Environment Protection Agency and my Department will liaise with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in the matter. Carbon auditing has not been undertaken by my Department.

Agencies under the remit of my Department are conscious of the need to achieve a high level of energy efficiency. Although there is no formal policy in place in relation to energy efficiency in most of the agencies, a number have undertaken efficiency surveys and carbon footprint audits to ensure efficiency measures are effective.

A number of buildings occupied by agencies are leased and therefore the agencies would have no direct control in the efficiency measures applied at the time these buildings were originally fitted out. However, newer premises, either leased or bought, will have stipulated sustainable energy efficiency measures such as optimising heating and lighting controls and water saving measures in their fit out requirements. Waste recycling is also standard practice throughout all buildings occupied by the agencies.

My Department and its agencies operate a "Travel Pass" scheme encouraging staff members to use public transport in both working and leisure hours, thus assisting in reducing the level of carbon emissions.

Official travel in the agencies under the remit of my Department is appraised and monitored by each agency to ensure that travel is restricted to necessary journeys only. Wherever feasible, staff of the agencies use public transport when travelling on official business. Video conference and conference calls facilities are utilised to avoid the need for official travel, where appropriate. My Department and its Agencies keep appraised of new Communications Technology in an attempt to further reduce the need for staff to travel.

Carbon emissions caused by official travel must be balanced against the considerable benefits accruing to Ireland from business transacted on those journeys in terms of promoting trade, attracting inward investment and influencing international policy.

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