MINISTER FOR Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan has warned Aer Lingus that it can no longer set itself apart from the global drive to reduce carbon emissions.

Speaking at the launch of the inaugural report on Ireland by the carbon disclosure project (CDP), an international not-for-profit organisation which reports to market on the carbon emissions of thousands of the world’s leading companies, Mr Ryan said national and international pressure would continue to mount on Irish enterprises that are slow to meet the challenges of climate change.

“Aer Lingus should be very wary because the European Union is going to insist on greater accountability on emissions in the coming years, and transport is an area where we have a real problem, where our emissions seem to be growing at the fastest rate,” the Minister said.

“The response rate is very important, and I encourage all companies to participate in the carbon disclosure project. No sector can leave itself out and we cannot have exceptions.”

Although several of Ireland’s best known companies voluntarily disclosed information on their carbon emission to the project, including Diageo, ESB, AIB and Smurfit Kappa, the general level of uptake was disappointing, with just 19 out of 43 petitioned companies participating in the survey.

Two of Ireland’s largest transport companies, Aer Lingus and Ryanair, failed to even respond to the CDP’s invitation to participate in its report on Ireland. According to a 2007 report on Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions by the Environmental Protection Agency, the transport sector accounts for close to 21 per cent of Ireland’s overall carbon emissions.

However, the report underlined a number of positives in Ireland’s drive to become a green economy, revealing that 71 per cent of Irish companies participating in the report assign board level responsibility to address climate change business risks and opportunities.

More than two-thirds of respondents also regarded regulatory development in the area of carbon emissions as an opportunity for growth, particularly with regard to emissions trading and bringing low carbon products and green brands to market.

The Minister said this underlined how Irish companies that follow a sustainable path will come to reap the rewards of their foresight: “With this carbon disclosure project, Irish companies are joining their international counterparts and placing low carbon economics high on the agenda.

“The economy of the future is green; energy awareness makes sense, not only for the environment, but for the bottom line.”

Terence O’Rourke, managing partner of KMPG in Ireland, said that environmental matters were now fundamental to future viability and profitability for all leading global corporations: “CDP helps demonstrate the commercial imperative of prioritising environmental matters and shows that many of the world’s most successful businesses see the environment as fundamental to their future.

Founded in 2000, the carbon project is a globally renowned organisation dedicated to encouraging private and public enterprises to measure, report and reduce their carbon emissions. It collects climate change data from more than 2,000 corporations around the globe and has assembled the largest corporate greenhouse gas emissions database in the world.

This is the first year the group has compiled a report on a selection of Irish companies, based on the list of largest companies by market capitalisation together with those that had received the largest allocations under the National Allocation Plan for Emissions Trading 2008–2012.

The report was prepared by KPMG and sponsored by Vodafone.