Governance

Within Gas Networks Ireland good corporate governance is at the core of our business decisions and key to the achievement of our business strategy. We believe that good corporate governance serves as the cornerstone of ethical organisational practices, encompassing principles and structures that guide decision-making, transparency, and accountability within our organisation.

At Gas Networks Ireland, upholding ethics involves not only complying with legal standards but also fostering a culture of integrity, fairness, and social responsibility. We believe trust is essential for sustainable business relationships, and is cultivated through consistent adherence to ethical principles, transparent communication, and responsible actions. Additionally, prioritising human rights and combating modern slavery throughout our supply chain are integral components of our ethical business conduct, demonstrating a commitment to respecting the dignity and well-being of individuals both within and beyond the company's operations. Championing these values strengthens our reputation and contributes to a more just and sustainable society.

We welcome the introduction of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) as it presents a valuable opportunity for us to reexamine our sustainability practices. This directive not only encourages us to reflect on our current strategies but also to introduce enhanced governance standards and to further embed sustainability culture in our business.

Gas Networks Ireland is due to publish our first CSRD report for 2025 in 2026; by aligning with CSRD, we are committed to fostering transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement in our sustainability efforts.

Our Board is responsible for overseeing our business strategy, and in 2023 Gas Networks Ireland established a Safety, Sustainability & People committee to oversee our sustainability practices.

Ethics and Integrity

Our reputation and the trust and confidence that our customers, stakeholders, and the public place in us is fundamental to our success. Integrity is key to building that trust. Our “Doing the Right Thing” programme helps all employees understand and recognise the importance of ethics and integrity.

Employees are trained to ensure that any business decision made is:

Legal
In line with company values
In line with company policy
The right thing to do

As part of the initiative, guidance booklets are issued to employees on key ethics related policies with annual training updates and quarterly team integrity conversations.

Supply chain

Gas Networks Ireland ensures environmental and sustainability requirements are embedded in the procurement processes right through to delivery stage of the contract. For example, our main/larger contractors and suppliers are required to provide us with regular reports and updates on their sustainability performance against a range of sustainability KPIs and requirements which include, waste management, biodiversity management, carbon management and energy use.

We procure significant volumes of services and materials to support the construction, maintenance, and delivery of the gas transportation network. We are committed to sustainability, by embedding sustainability as a cornerstone of our procurement processes; we are also driving better sustainability practices throughout the entire supply chain.

Our main third-party contracts have been designed to deliver sustainability and environmental best practice throughout the project lifecycle. Where contractors and suppliers outperform set KPIs, the financial terms of the contract contain provisions to allow for additional performance awards to be made. Similarly, KPI underperformance can result in the imposition of financial performance adjustments. As part of the tendering process in 2023, when procuring works, services, and materials, we ensured our Sustainability Strategy objectives were key to the tender and contract requirements. In addition to waste, data management, energy and carbon performance KPIs we have now also included new more challenging requirements around waste reduction targets, Biodiversity Enhancement Planning, Sustainable Procurement Planning, Sustainability Planning, Community Programmes, Modern Slavery and Carbon Emissions Management as part of our new contracts.

Innovation

The Network Innovation Centre located in Citywest, Dublin continues to play a key role in supporting our research and innovation activities. Hydrogen research and development initiatives are focused on enabling the introduction of green hydrogen on to the gas network and testing end user capacity to utilise hydrogen. In 2023 an off-grid underground gas network facility was completed to facilitate planned research and testing of hydrogen blends. Innovation related to the existing gas network is also a core activity at the Network Innovation Centre, supporting initiatives that will improve how we operate and manage the gas infrastructure both now and into the future.

Our innovation team and subject matter experts have been participating in projects with external research partners to understand the full potential of hydrogen and ensure that the gas network is capable of safely transporting and storing both blended and up to 100% hydrogen into the future. These projects in addition to others across our organisation will provide the data needed to understand how green hydrogen will impact the gas network and help ensure a smooth transition with minimal cost and disruption to Ireland’s energy system and our customers.

Risk management

Risk management supports Gas Networks Ireland to navigate challenges and seize opportunities in order to develop and implement our strategy. Proactive risk management allows us to create added value for our shareholders, customers and the wider community. The risk management landscape for the organisation is ever evolving. Risk management including the effective identification, management and mitigation of risks is an integral part of all our activities.

The nature of our business operations is long term, resulting in many of our risks being enduring in nature. These risks can develop and evolve over time, as their potential impact and/ or likelihood changes in response to internal and external developments. At the same time new risks continue to emerge so a speak up culture is encouraged. Managing safety risk continues to be a priority for Gas Networks Ireland with proactive identification and mitigation occurring.

Stakeholder engagement

At Gas Networks Ireland, we take the nature and quality of our stakeholder relationships very seriously. We work closely with our stakeholders to understand their views and emerging needs, determine priorities, deliver initiatives in partnership.

Looking forward

Leverage our past and energise our people to deliver the future of our network.

Sustainability culture

While 2022 and 2023 was focused on the establishment of a new strategy, purpose and vision, in 2024 Gas Networks Ireland will focus on refining and improving the new ways of working and further embedding a sustainability culture across the organisation

CSRD

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is a new EU regulation that strengthens disclosures on a wide range of ESG topics. In 2024 Gas Networks Ireland will complete a readiness work programme and comply with new CSRD reporting requirements by year end. In simple terms, CSRD is all about empowering sustainability through transparency. For Gas Networks Ireland CSRD is more than compliance - CSRD will help support our transformation and embed and enhance our sustainability culture.

Investment

With safety as a priority for our assets and operations, we invested €148m in our gas and telecoms network infrastructure with a strong focus on driving growth and on transitioning our network to renewable technologies such as biomethane and hydrogen and delivering programmes to improve the safety and reliability of the network.

The Government has set a target of 5.7TWh/yr of biomethane on the national gas network by 2030. During 2023 there has been growth in renewable gas injected into our network, with 61 GWh biomethane on our network.

With an increased focus on the need for renewable gases, such as biomethane and hydrogen, to replace natural gas in Ireland’s energy mix and enhance Ireland’s security and diversity of supply in light of recent climate reports and the invasion of Ukraine, the establishment of a national Renewable Gas Registry is both timely and critical to the industry’s success.

Gas Networks Ireland has been appointed as the body responsible for issuing Guarantees of Origin for renewable gases in line with European Union (Renewable Energy) Regulations 2022, which has passed into Irish law. We will issue Guarantees of Origin in accordance with a supervisory framework to be established by the CRU, meaning that producers of renewable gas will be issued with a Guarantee of Origin for every megawatt hour of renewable gas injected into Ireland’s national gas network.