Irish Construction Behemoth Sisk Becomes First Irish Business to Join EP100

Irish construction company John Sisk & Son (Sisk) has become the first Irish business to join the EP100 initiative, a global initiative led by The Climate Group designed to drive and support the adoption of policies that double a company’s energy productivity, reducing energy usage and lowering energy costs at the same time.

John Sisk & Son announced on Tuesday that it would commit to double its energy productivity by 2030 based on a 2014 benchmark. The company will work to identify, assess, and implement energy conservation measures for its business, while simultaneously seeking to grow its business through enhanced resilience and competitiveness.

The move brings Sisk into the company of big names such as Schneider Electric, Johnson Controls, Danfoss, and H&M, which have similarly committed to doubling their energy productivity and joining EP100, bringing the initiative’s members up to 15.

EP100 was launched back in May of 2016 by The Climate Group in partnership with the Alliance to Save Energy, and joined The Climate Group’s other initiatives, RE100 and EV100. The latter is designed to bring like-minded companies together in their commitment to accelerating the transition to and adoption of electric vehicles and currently has 18 members.

This pales into insignificance, however, when compared with the flagship initiative, RE100, which currently boasts 131 members which have aligned to transition to 100% renewable energy. RE100 has been the darling renewable energy initiative since it was first launched back at Climate Week NYC 2014 by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project).

Transitioning to 100% renewable energy is a target with a lot more sex-appeal than doubling energy productivity – as EP100 seeks to address – but the importance of both should not be missed.

While it is true that, as a society, we need to transition quickly to more and more renewable energy generation so as to halt the advance of global warming, this can be mitigated somewhat by reducing the amount of electricity that is used in the first place. Considering that businesses account for around half of the electricity used around the world, increasing energy productivity not only makes the task of shifting to 100% renewable electricity easier, but it also provides near-term benefits for the company and the environment.

Further, by increasing energy productivity, a company enhances its resilience and boosts competitiveness. Resilience comes by making a business less susceptible to price fluctuations in the electricity and energy markets and reduces its exposure to fossil fuel interests and investments. Competitiveness comes when a company begins to reduce the amount it needs to shell out on electricity and energy bills, reducing its overall costs and increasing its ability to compete.

For Sisk in particular, the company has identified site fuel and fleet fuel as a significant consumer of energy and is already looking to implement a number of plans that will increase the company’s efficiency. An Eco Driving pilot has already resulted in impressive benefits that extend throughout the company’s operations and has resulted in savings of approximately 33,000 liters, or 10% of annual consumption.

“We are delighted to announce our membership of global energy efficiency initiative EP100 and our commitment to doubling our energy productivity within 25 years,” said Ian O’Connor, Energy Manager, John Sisk & Son. “As the first Irish business join EP100, Sisk is proud to be leading the way in demonstrating climate leadership by reducing energy use.”

“Energy efficiency is an important part of our long-term business strategy at John Sisk & Son,” Stephen Bowcott, CEO, John Sisk & Son, added. “As an innovative, international, engineering and construction company with extensive operations across Ireland, the United Kingdom and mainland Europe, we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and contributing to the global fight against climate change. Sisk’s membership of EP100 further demonstrates this commitment.”

 “As the first Irish company to join EP100, Sisk is positioning itself alongside some of the world’s most influential companies committed to the highest levels of leadership on climate change,” said Helen Clarkson, CEO of The Climate Group. “By making smarter use of everyday energy, our members are driving tech innovation while saving on energy bills and lowering their emissions – that’s good business.”