Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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180. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if a 3% annual rate of renovation for Government owned and occupied buildings as required by Article 5 of the Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU and Article 4 of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2010/31/EU has been achieved for each of the years 2014 to 2017, respectively; if the 3% target has been achieved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39293/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The Energy Efficiency Directive sets out measures Member States must take for the EU to meet its 20% energy efficiency target by 2020.  Article 5 provides for the exemplary role of public bodies buildings and includes achieving an annual rate of energy efficient renovation for Government buildings of 3%.  The directive allows for this to be achieved either through renovation or by “alternative measures”.  Ireland has chosen the alternative approach which entails a mix of energy management and efficiency upgrade measures rather than a focus only on renovation.  Article 4 of The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive deals with cost optimal energy performance requirements.  As you will be aware, Ireland set a more ambitious energy efficiency objective for our public sector than required under the EU Directives.  In 2009 in our first national Energy Efficiency Action Plan gave our public sector bodies a more ambitious 33% target - going beyond the 3% renovation requirement in the EU directive.  

Progress is monitored annually in terms of the overall levels of energy use and efficiency across the sector.   Details of efficiencies achieved by all public bodies is published in the Annual Report on Public Sector Energy Efficiency Performance - available on the SEAI website.   Progress been good with the most recent report (covering energy use data to end 2016) showing a 20% improvement in energy efficiency achieved across the public sector by then. The detailed monitoring and reporting shows that there has been a steady increase in efficiency achieved from c.5% in 2009 to c.20% in 2016.  The figures for the 2017 performance will be available later this year once all of the data has been analysed.  The cumulative energy savings from 2009 to 2016 also amount to 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 emissions reduction and €737m in energy spend avoided.

To further drive the effort required to achieve the 33% target, I published the first Public Sector Energy Efficiency Strategy in 2017.  It introduces new governance structures, enhanced support measures, and provides clarity on the retention of financial savings achieved by public sector bodies from the energy efficiency measures they implement.  Since the launched of the Strategy in 2017 all government departments have appointed a designated Energy Performance Officer (EPO) to drive the Strategy and provide the necessary strategic leadership to the bodies within their groups.  My Department, along with the SEAI, and the OPW have been engaging pro-actively with Departments and their EPO’s through workshops and individual advisory sessions.  The main focus is to support EPO's to work with the bodies in their sector to identify and develop energy efficiency projects and avail of the advice and supports available. 

Since 2017, to further support the Strategy I have also provided €14m in funding to the SEAI to engage and work with the OPW and the Department of Education & Skills on two pilot projects.  These are delivering energy retrofit upgrades, and crucially, informing and developing replicable and scalable models for energy retrofit investment that can be more widely deployed.