Building and construction giant Sisk has taken delivery of 10 new Volkswagen ID.3 electric cars for its company car fleet, as part of a €2.8 million investment in sustainability in its vehicles.
The investment is part of a broader strategy to start clawing back the emissions of what remains a carbon-intensive business.
While Sisk is holding back some details for the launch of its upcoming sustainability report, The Irish Times has been told initiatives include discussions with suppliers of heavy plant machinery about the use of hydrogen or electric power in such vehicles.
The plan is to expand the fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) offered for use by Sisk employees to 100 over four years. Sisk told The Irish Times it is now “offering more EVs as a choice to its employees than traditional internal combustion engines”, and claimed that the average CO2 emissions of the vehicles it uses for its fleet is now 53 per cent lower than it was 18 months ago.
"This is a great milestone for Sisk and demonstrates our commitment to EVs and reducing our carbon footprint," said Tom Grant, director of assets and internal services at John Sisk & Son.
“Sisk has made a significant investment in this area as we believe in a sustainable approach to how we deliver our projects. We anticipate a 50 percent uptake in EVs in Financial Year 2020 fleet renewals and we are aiming to reach 75 per cent of our vehicle choice being EV in Financial Year 2021.”
Sisk also claims it already “partners with its supply chain to help decrease the lifecycle energy consumption of a construction project” and is “engaging with customers, designers and our wider supply chain to implement a range of innovative concepts and techniques to help reduce energy consumption over the life cycle of all its projects.”
