The Central Bank and Sustainability

Central Bank of Ireland's North wall Quay premises

As an integral part of the Central Bank’s culture of acting sustainably, we aim to invest our financial assets in a sustainable manner and manage our operations in an environmentally friendly way.

Sustainable Investment

The Central Bank  aims to invest our financial assets in a sustainable manner in accordance with the Board’s (Commission’s) approved risk appetite and consistent with the Central Bank’s Investment Policy Principles. We established our Sustainable Investment Charter (PDF 435.92KB) in 2022. The purpose of the Charter is to guide us in considering how sustainable investment principles will apply to our own investment practices. The effects of climate change are a strategic focus in the first iteration of the Charter as it represents a systemic risk that the Bank must consider as part of its approach to managing its Investment Assets.

Climate-related financial disclosures of the Central Bank’s Investment Assets

The Central Bank’s climate-related financial disclosures (PDF 3.32MB) form part of a concerted effort by all Eurosystem central banks to publish climate-related information on our respective non-monetary policy portfolios (“Investment Assets”). All disclosures are prepared in line with a Eurosystem common minimum disclosure framework based on the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF).

The disclosures mark an important step towards increased transparency on the climate-related risks and the environmental footprint related to our Investment Assets. By improving transparency on our own activities, the Bank aims to strengthen awareness and understanding of climate-related risks and play a catalyst role in terms of promoting climate-related disclosures.

Sustainability Within Our Operations

The Central Bank of Ireland manages its operations at all of its locations through a single integrated management system, certified to best practice Environmental ISO14001, Safety ISO45001 and Energy ISO50001 standards. In addition to maintaining these independent certifications, the Central Bank has also:

  • Been recognised as the first large office building in Ireland to achieve BREEAM Outstanding at Design stage and BREEAM “Excellent In Use” for North Wall Quay
  • Established a Biodiversity Action Plan for all sites, including introducing bees onto the roof in North Wall Quay and embedding a rewilding campaign between May and September in Sandyford
  • Targeted a building energy rating (BER) of A2 for both Dockland Campus buildings.

The Central Bank established a Sustainability Taskforce in June 2022, under the Social and Sustainability Oversight Group, to lead and coordinate the delivery of the Bank’s strategic objective to “deliver on our commitment to act as a sustainable organisation”. The Sustainability Taskforce focusses on the Bank’s internal operations works and has representation from Workplace Services & Facilities Management, Currency Management, Climate Change Unit, Financial Control, Financial Markets, Communications, Information Management Technology and Procurement. The first key responsibility of the Taskforce was to develop the Central Bank Bank’s Climate Action Roadmap (PDF 437.69KB) and ensure alignment with the Government’s Climate Action Plan.

The roadmap supports the Central Bank on a legally binding path to net-zero emissions no later than 2050, and to a 51% reduction in emissions by the end of this decade.

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