Head of decarbonisation finance and former research chief for Davy, Barry Dixon, is leaving the stockbroking firm to join building materials giant CRH, a company he covered for years as an analyst.
Mr Dixon joined Davy in 2000 as an analyst and went on to head the research department between 2008 and 2020.
He established a decarbonisation finance team within the company’s corporate finance division in 2021, as Davy eyed opportunities as the Republic seeks to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
It is believed that Mr Dixon is taking on a growth role at CRH. The move comes a year and a half after Davy then head of capital markets, John Lydon, quit to join CRH as director of group development, putting him in charge of the building material giant’s multibillion euro deals war chest.
Spokesmen for Davy and CRH declined to comment. Efforts to secure comment from Mr Dixon were also unsuccessful.
His green finance background would also be of benefit to CRH, the biggest road builder in North America, which also has an ambition to have net-zero carbon emissions by middle of the century.
This includes so-called Scope 1 emissions, covering the activities of an organisation or under its control, Scope 2 indirect emissions from purchased energy, and Scope 3, which includes all other indirect emissions from its supply chain and consumption of its products.
It is understood that staff in Davy capital markets business were told recently that the environmental, social and governance (ESG) remains a priority as the firm also reaffirmed its commitment to its UK business, a new bonds team and deals in the private company space.
A Davy report published late last year estimated that Irish households, businesses and the Government face spending a total of more than €150 billion by the end of the decade on efforts to meet interim climate-action targets.
The firm estimates that €129 billion will need to be invested in dedicated energy-transition measures by 2030, driven by the electrification of heating and transport and retrofitting of homes and businesses. Some 85 per cent of the expenditure is expected to come from the private sector.
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