Bord na Móna Welcomes Global Recognition of its Success in the Battle Against Climate Change

Bord na Mona has welcome a report outlining the massive strides the companyhas made in reducing Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions. Addressing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting inDublin, CEO Gabriel D’Arcy said “We are delighted by the findings here that show restoring peatlands can provide an important sink for carbon dioxide, a significant culprit in driving climate change. This vindication is quite timely as our teams are working on a large number of restoration and rewetting projects that can be managed so as to take up carbon dioxide and limit the release of other greenhouse gases.

These processes are vital not just from an environmental perspective but are also economically significant as Ireland strives to reduce its carbon outputs. It is clear that this process has to be tackled not simply from the energy use perspective but also with a view to increasing our carbon absorption potential. I hope that people around the world see what can be done, and frankly hope they duplicate the success of Bord na Móna in this area.”

Commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Carbon Restorereport by Dr David Wilson, argues that re-wetting cutaway bogs would provideclimate, biodiversity, water and economic benefits.

Restoring peat is possible as proven in a detailed study of a ‘rewetted’ Bord naM—na cutaway bog in Bellacorick, Co. Mayo. The company is undertaking similarprojects in peatlands across its 80,000 landholding. The plan will see therestoration of up to 2,000ha of bog, that was never brought into peat production,under a 5 year programme.

Bord na M—na launched its sustainable business strategy, ‘A new Contract withNature’, in 2008. The strategy was introduced to inform sustainable businesspractices across all divisions and subsidiary companies in the group. Thecompany recently won a coveted Green Award for im lementing a sustainablesupply system that involves 377 separate business sup liers. The company beatoff competition from some of the world’s biggest corporations including Dell,Symantec and IBM to win the prestigious Green Award.

Source: HortiTrends News Desk