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Climate, Carbon and Nature

The climate and nature crises are inextricably linked. Climate change is having a negative impact on many of the world’s species and ecosystems, driving biodiversity loss. At the same time, protecting and restoring biodiversity is critical to mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Businesses are key drivers of the climate transition and must integrate climate and nature factors when embracing sustainable practices, renewable energy and low-carbon solutions. But more can be done to leverage innovation and responsible practices to enhance competitiveness and sustainability.

BITCI works with its members to develop decarbonisation and nature strategies and actions. This is done through:

Deliver training and workshops on assessing Scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon emissions, energy-related topics and business impacts and dependency on nature.
Provide tools and advice to members in setting and achieving science-based targets to reduce their emissions.
Facilitate peer conversations between member companies to share and learn from the challenges and opportunities experienced when developing and executing their decarbonisation and nature strategies.
Maintain a register of vetted Carbon Consultants and advice on appropriate scoping for services.
Broker partnerships between businesses and environmental NGOs to support companies with their low carbon and nature-based solutions.

In addition, BITCI leads on a collective action campaigns in this area. Beginning with The Low Carbon Pledge in 2018, it was the first dedicated pledge generated by Irish business to set industry standards on sustainability and reduce carbon usage. All signatory companies committed to setting science-based carbon emissions reduction targets by 2024, in line with the Paris Agreement and the latest IPCC findings.

The next iteration is the Accelerate, The Business Pact on Climate and Nature where companies commit to implementation of their targets through developing and executing a Climate Transition Action Plan.

"BITCI helped us to understand our carbon emissions, create awareness among the team on the importance of managing carbon and undergo the process of signing up to the Science Based Target Initiative. Having access to cross sectoral peers in the network has exposed us to best practices and innovative approaches."

John Paul Construction

To support their biodiversity programme, John Paul Construction were looking for advice on a tree-gifting initiative to raise employee awareness on nature where they wanted to plant the balance of trees gifted to their employees. After discussing the reality of the idea, BITCI reached out to potential partner organisations and successfully linked up the company with the Dodder Action Group.

The partnership flourished and expanded to include DSCPA and Stepping Stones Forests. The initial idea had evolved to combine tree-gifting to staff and tree-planting. Over 280 employees donated their tree to plant a pocket forest on the grounds of DSPCA in Rathfarnham in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains and the company donated further trees to end up planting over 700 native Irish trees by company volunteers in January 2024 to increase biodiversity at the site.

The partners are now looking at doing a second round of planting and many more biodiversity initiatives, this is only the beginning of a long-term partnership.