Last week we held the EcoMerit AGM and Annual Forum.
It was great to hear from some members about their sustainability journey and catch up on achievements of the community so far. There was some great discussion on recent developments in sustainability in business, and we are looking forward to the year ahead.
Highlights from the day:
- We heard from Sean Penston, Facilities Manager at Beacon Hospital, about his experience working with EcoMerit to get the Beacon certified. As a leading teaching hospital that treats 140,000 patients a year and employs 1,500 healthcare professionals it’s great to see the Beacon set an example for healthcare facilities in sustainable practices.
- We heard from John Mulcahy, Local Enterprise Office, Kildare. Kildare’s pilot of the Green for Micro programme has been the most successful in the country, with big uptake by SMEs from all sectors. EcoMerit has been working closely with Kildare LEO on this pilot, providing mentoring to businesses based on a condensed version of our tried and tested EcoMerit Certification Approach.
- We heard from our very own managing director Phil Walker on the latest developments from EcoMerit. He covered some points on how the changing landscape, including the Climate Action Plan, will affect business environmental supports going forward, and navigating the complex area of Carbon Offsets. The track record of 60% average emissions reductions was again celebrated- we look forward to supporting our community in continuing to achieve such high levels of environmental performance.
- Nominations for a new Chair of the Oversight Board are now open. The appointment will be confirmed at the next meeting of the oversight board in the new year. Big thanks to James Hogan for being an excellent Chair (https://ecomerit.ie/oversight-board/)
There was some lively discussion and Q&A held at the end of the forum. Some of the links shared in relation to these discussions can be found below:
Links that were shared
CARE proposal: https://ecomerit.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/CARE-Proposal-20200717.pdf
Green for Micro programme application: https://leo.submit.com/show/1
Opinion piece on Energy Demand – Interesting proposal by Siobhan McHugh, CEO of Demand Response Ireland on how businesses can cooperatively collaborate and benefit from managing demand https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/energy-blackouts-and-voluntary-demand-1.4711987
SMEs and the Environment in the European Union: (https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/aa507ab8-1a2a-4bf1-86de-5a60d14a3977)
(Constantinos, C., S. Y. Sørensen, B. P. Larsen, and S. Alexopoulou. 2010. SMEs and the Environment in the European Union. Planet Sa Denmark: EC DG Enterprise and Industry.)
