1 / 21

Thursday 3 rd April 2014

Presentation to Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine on the positive impacts of Coillte on Ireland’s carbon footprint. Thursday 3 rd April 2014. Coillte has stewardship over 7% of land area of Ireland. 1.

grover
Download Presentation

Thursday 3 rd April 2014

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Presentation to Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine on the positive impacts of Coillte on Ireland’s carbon footprint Thursday 3rd April 2014

  2. Coillte has stewardship over 7% of land area of Ireland 1

  3. Coillte can deploy its natural resources to reduce carbon emissions providing headroom for growth in agriculture Renewable Energy Carbon Sequestration Low Carbon Building Products 2

  4. Forestry and its role in reducing Ireland’s carbon footprint 3

  5. Our Forests – Scale of Operations • Sell 2.4 million m3 of roundwood • Reforest 6,000ha using 15 million trees each year • Maintain 9,500kms of forest roads • Receive 18 million recreational visits to our forests per year • Manage 20% of our estate to protect and enhance biodiversity • Certified by FSC • Seeking PEFC & ISO14001 certification in 2014 • Our BAUs work with approx 460 individual contractors employing circa 1300 people across the country 4

  6. Our Forests - Strategy 2018 Increased Forest Value 5

  7. Our Forests - Role in Carbon agenda Carbon mitigation measures Carbon Sequestration • Sustainable • SUPPLY CHAIN • FSC Certification • Contractor Base • Energy wood • PLANTING FORESTS • 15 million trees per year • Management services • IncreasedFOREST • Productivity • Species • Silviculture • FRM Forest Area Expansion Increased Productivity • LOW CARBON BUILDING PRODUCTS • Sawn wood • SmartPly OSB • Medite MDF 6

  8. Our Forests – Thinking Green • Independent research has evaluated the economic impact of Public Goods Coillte provides: • Nature conservation and biodiversity - €322m per annum * • Cultural Heritage - €92m per annum * • Landscape protection – €96m per annum * • Recreation – €97m per annum • Generating €270m of economic activity in local communities * Source – Valuation of the public goods – landscape, habitats and species, and cultural heritage – provided by the Coillte Estate – Goodbody Economic Consultants 7

  9. Other contributions to reducing Ireland’s carbon footprint from the Coillte estate 8

  10. Managing land to add value Coillte manages two great assets - forests & land Our objective as stewards of the land is to look for other benefits the land can provide, where it is not suitable for forestry These uses include renewable energy, biomass, telecoms mast sites and infrastructure projects 9

  11. Land – A Key Natural Resource • 6,000 Discrete Properties • Valuable Attributes 10

  12. Why Renewables? • 2009 EU Renewables Directive • Dependence on imported fossil fuels • Climate change • Economics 11

  13. Renewable Energy – Our Role to Date • Renewables = 2,000MW • Renewables @ 20% • Coillte enabled 40% • Areas we are involved: • Windfarms • Connections • ESB Networks • Eirgrid 12

  14. Renewable Energy - Our Future Role • Develop our own 500MW portfolio in conjunction with our partner • Support others in delivery of projects and infrastructure in support of Ireland’s RES-E ambition • Provide leadership in relation to community engagement and community gain • Support the concept of an export project for renewable energy, in line with Government policy • Provide advocacy for maximum deployment of wind energy solutions in a macro economic context 13

  15. Biomass as a Renewable Energy Source 14

  16. Ireland RES-H Progress • Current level = 5.2% • Target = 12% • An incentive mechanism can provide the solution • Solution = A Renewable Heat Incentive • A payment system for the generation of heat from renewable energy sources, similar to a REFIT scheme for electricity. 15

  17. Benefits of a Renewable Heat Incentive • Reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and reducing greenhouse gas emissions • Help offset emissions in other sectors e.g. agriculture • Improve competitiveness of industry • Stimulate rural development and employment • Provide a market for the private timber resource • Reduce level of future fines 16

  18. Case Study : Astellas Ireland Ltd. Co. Kerry 17

  19. Land – Adding Value, Benefiting Many 18

  20. In conclusion…. • By deploying our natural resource assets we can deliver: • increased carbon sequestration from our forests; • low carbon energy efficient building products; • confidence for landowners who wish to plant new land that an efficient supply chain is in place; • renewable energy from wind and biomass. 19

  21. In conclusion…. • Recommendations which could further enhance our ability to contribute: • a Renewable Heat Incentive to encourage the growth of bioenergy; • clear signal of the Government’s ambition for wind energy post 2020 (both domestic and export); • recognition for the provision of valuable public goods. • Thank you for your attention 20

More Related