IGBC is inviting feedback on the Draft Document – EU Taxonomy, National Interpretation which lays out the proposed steps for demonstrating compliance for Irish Construction projects with the EU Taxonomy requirements.

The details of the interpretation and evidence for each section of the EU Taxonomy are included in the following document.

EU Taxonomy Irish Interpretation Document

The IGBC are also proposing to use the following calculator for Climate Change Mitigation.

EU Taxonomy Climate Change Mitigation 10% NZEB Calculator

The EU taxonomy is a classification system, establishing a list of environmentally sustainable economic activities. It could play an important role helping the EU scale up sustainable investment and implement the European Green Deal. The EU taxonomy would provide companies, investors and policymakers with appropriate definitions for which economic activities can be considered environmentally sustainable. In this way, it should create security for investors, protect private investors from greenwashing, help companies to become more climate-friendly, mitigate market fragmentation and help shift investments where they are most needed.

Further details of the EU Taxonomy can be found here.

Feedback is required on all aspects of the document but in particular the following areas.  

• Primary Energy Demand reduction of 10% is demonstrated on a building wide level using the IGBC methodology and calculator
• Construction and Demolition Waste targets are set at 70% and do not include Waste to Energy
• Construction and Demolition Waste targets are required for each construction site and the proposed requirement is monthly waste summaries from the waste processing plants.
• Zoned land is not required to meet the soil fertility and below ground biodiversity requirements
• Climate Change Mitigation – For renovations it is proposed that in Ireland, with the national regulations covering Major Renovations there is no requirement to show 30% PED improvement.

This document was developed by the Irish Green Building Council in close cooperation with industry and key stakeholders through working groups at a national level from September ‘22 until January ‘23. The Irish Green Building Council are also attending fortnightly meetings with the World Green Building Council EU Taxonomy Working Group which is developing a common understanding on the EU Taxonomy and sharing national strategies for implementation.

The IGBC would like to hear your feedback on this document and the proposed recommendations. The public consultation period for submitting your feedback is open for 6 weeks from the 4^nd of May until the 14th June 2023.

Please include any feedback in this document and return it to john@igbc.ie before the 15^th of June 2023. After this date, we will analyse the results of the public consultation and integrate relevant feedback into the final document.