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
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Coillte can deploy its natural resources to reduce carbon emissions providing headroom for growth in agriculture
Carbon
Sequestration
Renewable Energy Low Carbon Building
Products
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Forestry and its role in reducing Ireland’s carbon footprint
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Our Forests –
Scale of Operations
 Sell 2.4 million m 3 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
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Our Forests -
Strategy 2018
Being more efficient
Unlocking the potential of private timber
Increased
Forest
Value
Being smarter at what we do
Creating awareness and recognition for public goods
Building on the customer experience
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Our Forests
- Role in Carbon agenda
Carbon Sequestration
Forest
Area
Expansion
Increased
Productivity
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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
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Other contributions to reducing Ireland’s carbon footprint from the Coillte estate
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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
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Land – A Key Natural Resource
6,000 Discrete Properties
Valuable Attributes
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Why Renewables?
 2009 EU Renewables Directive
 Dependence on imported fossil fuels
 Climate change
 Economics
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Renewable Energy – Our Role to Date
- Renewables = 2,000MW
- Renewables @ 20%
- Coillte enabled 40%
- Areas we are involved:
Windfarms
Connections
ESB Networks
Eirgrid
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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
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Biomass as a Renewable
Energy Source
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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.
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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
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Case Study :
Astellas Ireland Ltd. Co. Kerry
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Land – Adding Value, Benefiting
Many
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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.
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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
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