Event Report

The Green Summit Ireland 2023 took place at Matheson LLP’s Dublin office and for the second time brought together leading practitioners, in-house counsel and senior business leaders to discuss how organisations can meet the challenges of the complex, broad and fast-changing ESG landscape and deliver on their ESG and sustainability goals.

After some opening remarks by Anna Bauböck, Global Green Guide editor at The Legal 500, and Patrick Spicer, senior partner and chairperson at Matheson LLP, the first panel was moderated by Susanne McMenamin, partner in Matheson’s Corporate Group, and addressed the ESG reporting landscape and how to navigate its latest challenges. Speakers discussed how to manage disclosures, risks and liabilities under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), shared best practices for implementing a successful strategy for ESG data gathering, monitoring and reporting, and gave practical guidance from a company perspective.

Panel one consisted of the following high-profile speakers:

  • Onur Durmus, EMEA service lead sustainable operations; EMEA lead EU green deal and EU taxonomy services, ERM
  • Conor Keeling, sustainability legal team, Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c.
  • Dr Lisa Koep, chief ESG officer, Tirlán (formerly Glanbia Ireland)

Key findings included:

  • The CSRD marks a big departure from current sustainability reporting – a mammoth task in terms of its scope and a hugely technical exercise, “NFDR on steroids”
  • There is no one right way to be going about it – be flexible, don’t agonise over it, and most importantly, just get started
  • Strong governance around the process, including good data governance, is essential
  • All stakeholders need to be taken on the journey, every function at the organisation needs to be involved with a top down approach
  • It is resource-intensive – it will require additional resourcing as well as the upskilling of people
  • It will be more difficult for businesses with large value chains and will be a bigger challenge for smaller businesses – larger companies have an obligation to support
  • Educate the value chain and be fair and equitable in sharing the burden across the value chain
  • ESG reporting is not just an obligation but can be an opportunity – it can be used to develop a strategic vision but needs to be integrated into commercial strategy

The second panel was moderated by Sally Anne Stone, Head of the Commercial Real Estate Department at Matheson, and explored ESG trends and developments in commercial real estate. The discussion revolved around current ESG considerations for investors, developers, and occupiers of commercial property, and how these players are working together to achieve ESG and sustainability goals in their real estate portfolios.

Panel two consisted of the following range of esteemed speakers:

  • Neil Granger, Senior Director, Engineering and Sustainability, TFT Ltd
  • Deirdre Hayes, head of Irish commercial property and ESG lead, Irish Life Investment Managers
  • David Killion, developments director, Ballymore Group
  • Andrea Carroll, group head of sustainability, daa

Key findings included:

  • The built environment accounts for approx. 40% of global emissions – the real estate sector needs to play key role in cutting emissions
  • ESG considerations in commercial real estate are incredibly granular and involve a host of practical challenges and a change in mindset
  • It’s not just a tick box exercise but ESG considerations need to happen throughout the whole life cycle of real estate
  • Capture the data to make decisions and understand the buildings
  • Having the correct data is crucial but can be a big challenge
  • Benchmarking against peers and transparency are essential
  • Sustainability in development is a must – the simple answer is that we have to embrace it
  • The entire chain needs to be involved – from investors and funders to developers, occupiers, and everyone in between
  • Consider the social element and get buy-in from all stakeholders
  • Education is crucial and needs to be ongoing

The event closed with some final remarks by Richard Kelly, partner in the finance and capital markets department at Matheson, who encouraged the audience that we all have the ability to be leaders in this field, and a networking session, where conversations continued over drinks and canapés.

In association with...