Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
Introduction
ESG Sub-Committee
The CIF ESG Sub-Committee aims to advance ESG practices in the industry and bolster its reputation through positive narratives. Its mandate involves addressing policy matters in sustainability, advising on ESG pillars including embodied carbon, managing relations with relevant bodies, implementing approved policies, and providing leadership for waste management initiatives.
What is ESG?
ESG is the flow of non-financial information that principally aids decision-making. While financial data has been gathered and disclosed in annual accounts for over a century, there hasn’t been a universally accepted method for collecting and presenting non-financial data such as carbon emissions, diversity, biodiversity loss, worker-related rights and so forth. Numerous voluntary reporting initiatives have emerged in recent years, resulting in considerable administrative burdens for certain companies. However, with the implementation of the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), sustainability reporting will be placed on an equal footing with financial reporting, leading to the streamlining and standardisation of reporting processes, thereby mitigating the risks associated with greenwashing.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement:
The CIF’s ESG committee is committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion among its membership and in the implementation of its mandate.
CIF Diversity Charter
The Construction Industry Federation, in collaboration with The Irish Centre for Diversity, presents the CIF Diversity and Inclusion charter. Construction companies are increasingly integrating D&I practices into their organisations to ensure they and their workforces benefit from diversity and inclusion.
This charter outlines your commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion in your company. By signing up to this charter, you are publicly committing to taking steps to promote diversity and inclusion in your workplaces and your industry. By doing so, you’ll be joining thousands of other companies and organisations across Ireland in promoting D&I.
Carbon Calculator
Measure and manage the carbon emissions of your organisation
The ‘CIF Carbon Calculator’ is an innovative carbon measurement solution designed specifically for the Irish construction industry. This tool comes at a pivotal time when both regulatory pressures and stakeholder expectations around carbon disclosures are escalating.
Sustainability
Resources
CIF FSC presentation | PDF | 3.6 MB
CIF Verifact 120724 | PDF | 1.1 MB
HUB360 CIF Deck v2 | PDF | 3.4 MB
RGFI – Sustainability & Competitveness: CECA/WSOG 23rd January 2024 | PDF | 1.1 MB
B4BB Overview CIF ESG Forum September 2024 | PDF | 0.8 MB
CIF – Irish Centre for Diversity Presentation | PDF | 0.8 MB
CIF ESG Committee inclusio Nov 2024 – Sandra Healy | PDF | 4.0 MB
Resources
Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)
European Sustainability Report Standards (ESRS)
EFRAG has provided twelve ESRS standards across E, S & G. These standards are collated in the CSRD Delegated Act document below
CSRD Delegated Act Annex 1 | PDF | 5.8 MB
Draft EFRAG IG 2 VCIG 231222 | PDF | 0.7 MB
Draft EFRAG IG 3 – List of ESRS datapoints explanatory note | PDF | 0.67 MB
Draft EFRAG IG 3 List of ESRS Data Points | Excel | 164 KB
Compilation Explanations January-July 2024 | PDF | MB
Mapping of sustainability matters to topical disclosures | PDF | 3.4 MB
Double Materiality Assessment
A materiality assessment is mandatory under the CSRD. It is a process of identifying the sustainability issues that are most important to a company’s stakeholders. This can help reduce the number of disclosure topics to be reported. However, company-specific or entity-specific topics may also arise as part of the assessment which are not covered by the ESRS but are material for the company and must therefore be reported. Similarly, topics may arise which are important to the company but are not material and therefore do not need to be reported.
The CSRD employs a dual approach, necessitating companies to perform a double materiality assessment. Companies must ascertain and evaluate the significance of their material impacts on society and the environment (inside-out view), alongside appraising the risks and opportunities posed by ESG issues to the company and its value chain (outside-in view).
Double materiality has two dimensions: impact materiality and financial materiality. A sustainability matter meets the criterion of double materiality if it is material from the impact perspective or the financial perspective or both.
CIF Sample DMA Tool V04 | Excel | 5.1 MB
CIF 12 step DMA process summary V01 | PDF | 6.2 MB
CIF Materiality Assessment Guidance Note V04 | PDF | 1.62 MB
Carbon Footprinting
Carbon Footprinting – General Guidance | PDF | 0.95 MB
Guidance for GHG Accounting and Reporting | PDF | 1.9 MB
SEAI Conversion factors
https://www.seai.ie/data-and-insights/seai-statistics/conversion-factors/
Useful links
Supply Chain Sustainability School Ireland
https://www.supplychainschool.ie/
Supply Chain Sustainability School UK
https://www.supplychainschool.co.uk/
DETE Responsible Business
https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/what-we-do/the-business-environment/responsible-business/
EFRAG European Financial Reporting Advisory Group
Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland
Climate Toolkit 4 Business
Responsible Business
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE) hold Responsible Business (RB) meetings several times throughout the year.
RB 08/05/2024
RB 22/05/2024
Presentation OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises on responsible business conduct | PDF | 0.65 MB
Presentation proposal for a directive on corporate sustainability due diligence | PDF | 0.57 MB
Presentation proposed EU regulation on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the union market | PDF | 0.35 MB