This help page provides a synopsis of the M&R methodology for public bodies.
- Under Regulation 5(3) in SI 426 of 2014, every public body is obliged to ‘report energy management and performance data to the SEAI on an annual basis, using procedures and calculation methodologies specified by the SEAI.’
- Under Regulation 8 in SI 381 of 2021, relevant public bodies are required to report relevant vehicle procurements annually through the M&R system.
¶ Mandatory
- Annual energy consumption data for your organisation, broken down by energy type, including all thermal, transport and electricity consumption.
- Annual values for your organisation's activity levels, including the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees and total useful floor area (TUFA).
- Brief commentary on your organisation's energy management practices and energy performance for the year.
- Name and contact details of your organisation's CEO (or equivalent). SEAI uses these details to formally contact your CEO with performance results for your organisation.
- Details of energy-saving projects, both implemented and planned.
- Building register, including location, type and size information for all your buildings, and consumption data for larger buildings.
- A breakdown of your vehicle fleet, and details on all vehicle procurements since 2021.
- Business travel undertaken since 2021, including distance travelled by private road vehicle, details of flights taken and distance travelled by public transport.
- Annual expenditure on energy, broken down by energy type.
- You must report the data annually to SEAI, in accordance with SEAI's annual reporting cycle. Each reporting cycle is named with reference to the recently completed calendar year, e.g. for the 2023 reporting cycle, you report data for 2023 and, where appropriate, for previous years.
- When your organisation logs in to the system for the first time during a reporting cycle you must accept the M&R terms & conditions.
- Reporting deadlines are final and late data is not accepted by SEAI.
- You must report data for every year from the start of your organisation's energy efficiency baseline period onwards.
- In general, if better data becomes available, you can change values that reported previously in earlier reporting cycles, e.g. during the 2023 reporting cycle you can change a consumption value that you previously reported for 2019 during the 2019 reporting cycle.
- When you report data for energy efficiency, the scope of activity data reported must be the same as the scope of the energy consumption data reported.
The definition of a public body is set out in Regulation 4 in SI 426 of 2014.
SEAI’s approach is to define a set of key principles that it considers to be important in relation to establishing the scope of the organisation, and to augment these principles with clear determinations with respect to the inclusion or exclusion of specific activities or scenarios from the scope. These principles are set out below.
- All energy and fuel types are included. This includes fossil fuels, renewable energy, blended mixtures of fossil and renewable fuels, and electricity from all sources. It includes solids, liquids and gases. It includes energy used for heating, transport, all electrical applications and plant and machinery.
- All final energy consumption is included.
- Energy that is considered transformation input from a national statistics perspective is excluded. This includes fuel used for the manufacture of secondary fuel products and fuels burned to generate electricity and heat for sale.
- Asset ownership, asset location and being the energy bill-payer are less important for determining inclusion in scope than whether consumption is attributable to your organisation.
- When you report data for energy efficiency, the scope of activity data reported must be the same as the scope of the energy consumption data reported.
- You must adopt a consistent approach to defining the scope of your organisation year on year. This is imperative because progress towards the 2030 targets is tracked with reference to efficiency and emissions levels at historical baseline periods.
- You must not use contractual changes as a basis for materially changing the scope of your organisation. For example, your organisation cannot outsource a key function and claim this as an energy or emission reduction compared to the previous year or your baseline period.
- Specific determinations with respect to the scope of the organisation are set out in Annex A of the M&R-2030 methodology guidance document.
The progress of every public body is tracked towards three headline targets via the M&R system:
The following is a summary. For a full description, see 2030 greenhouse gas targets.
- Fossil CO2 refers to CO2 emissions arising from your organisation's consumption of fossil fuels, including for heating (thermal) and transport.
- Your organisation's fossil CO2 emissions in each year are calculated by the system by multiplying the annual consumption values reported by you for fossil fuels by SEAI emission factors.
- Your public body must reduce its CO2 emissions by 51% by 2030, compared to a GHG baseline period.
- The GHG baseline period for all public bodies is 2016-2018 (average).
- Your fossil CO2 target is expressed as the maximum level of fossil CO2 emissions below which your organisation must operate in 2030, i.e., to achieve the target, fossil CO2 in 2030 must be less than or equal to the target.
- The fossil CO2 target is an absolute reduction target, i.e. there is no adjustment for changes in activity levels, service levels or demographics.
The following is a summary. For a full description, see 2030 greenhouse gas targets.
- Total CO2 refers to CO2 emissions arising from your organisation's consumption of fossil fuels and electricity. Note that all references to total CO2 are to energy-related CO2 emissions only.
- Your organisation's total CO2 emissions in each year are calculated by the system by multiplying the annual consumption values reported by you for grid electricity by an emission factor for electricity (national average), and adding this to your fossil CO2.
- Your public body must reduce its total CO2 emissions by 2030, compared to a GHG baseline period.
- The GHG baseline period for all public bodies is 2016-2018 (average).
- Your total CO2 target for 2030 equals your fossil CO2 target for 2030 plus your electricity emissions at your greenhouse gas baseline less the projected supply-side emissions reduction from electricity by 2030.
- Your total CO2 target is expressed as the maximum level of total CO2 emissions below which your organisation must operate in 2030, i.e., to achieve the target, total CO2 in 2030 must be less than or equal to the target.
- The total CO2 target is an absolute reduction target, i.e. there is no adjustment for changes in activity levels, service levels or demographics.
The following is a summary. For a full description, see 2030 energy efficiency target.
- Your public body must improve its energy efficiency by 2030, compared to an energy efficiency baseline.
- The energy efficiency baseline period for most public bodies is 2009. Public bodies can also choose to use earlier baselines (2001-2005 average or 2006-2008 average) and a very small number of organisations have later baselines.
- The energy efficiency target for almost all public bodies is 50%.
- Your organisation’s energy performance and its progress towards the energy efficiency target are calculated using an energy performance indicator (EnPI). The EnPI is used to determine how efficiently your organisation is using energy as it accounts for changes in the activity level related to the energy use - or activity metric - of your organisation.
- Your EnPI is calculated for each year by dividing your organisation’s total energy consumption, expressed as the primary energy requirement, by your organisation-level activity metric. A decreasing EnPI is an indicator of improving energy efficiency. And vice versa.
- To achieve the 50% energy efficiency target, your organisation's EnPI in 2030 must be 50% below its EnPI at the energy efficiency baseline.
The following is a summary. For a full description, see data quality.
- Public bodies are responsible for ensuring that they submit complete and accurate data each year, by the relevant deadline(s).
- Public bodies are responsible for ensuring that they submit data that meets SEAI’s data quality criteria.
- Public bodies are responsible for ensuring that they retain clear records that can be used as evidence in support of all data reported. This could include supplier documentation and internal records.
- Public bodies are responsible for ensuring that they document any calculations used to determine values that they report through the M&R system. This must include, where relevant, the rationale for any calculations, key assumptions, key inputs and the basis for calculations. Organisations must retain appropriate records of such calculations.
- Data verification assessment (DVA) is SEAI’s mechanism for maintaining data quality. A DVA is an assessment of specific aspect(s) of an organisation’s submission via M&R. The organisation’s data is evaluated against data acceptability criteria. The outcome from a DVA is a formal classification of the organisation’s data submission.