Blog
Notes on carbon, environmental regulation and public affairs in Northern Ireland.
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Focus on Agriculture: October 2026
Northern Ireland farming now gets far more food from every kilogram of nitrogen, but farm emissions are still 10% above 1990. My October briefing covers livestock methane, fertiliser and nutrient balances, peatland and woodland, new research at Hillsborough, and three...
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Offsets are a scam. Here's what to do instead.
A protected forest is a good thing. Paying for it doesn't cancel your boiler.
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Improving the public realm: guardianship, not just maintenance
The public realm is looked after every day, mostly by people nobody thanks.
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CBAM and CSRD: what Northern Ireland manufacturers actually need to know
If you make things in Northern Ireland and sell them into Great Britain, the Republic or further into Europe, you’ve probably had an email in the last year asking about your carbon. Sometimes it’s a customer’s procurement team. Sometimes it’s...
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Carbon inventories without the jargon: scopes, boundaries and why the process matters
A carbon inventory is simply an organised account of the greenhouse gases your business is responsible for. It sounds straightforward. In practice, the decisions you make along the way shape what the number means, and whether anyone should trust it....
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ESOS Phase 4: making it more than a compliance exercise
The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme, ESOS, has a reputation as a four-yearly chore. An assessor visits, a report gets written, it goes in a drawer. Phase 4 is a good moment to break that habit, because the rules are moving...
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Contaminated land in Northern Ireland: the regime that never started
Here’s something that surprises people from England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has a law setting up a full contaminated land regime, and it has never been switched on.
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Public affairs for environmental policy: being heard before the rules are written
Most businesses meet environmental regulation at the end of the process, when the rules are final and the only question is how to comply. By then, the useful conversations are over. Public affairs is about getting into those conversations earlier....
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Board-level insight: turning environmental data into decisions
Most boards get excellent financial information and very little else. They see revenue, margin and cash flow in detail every month. They rarely see, in any structured way, how exposed the business is to energy prices, which suppliers it can’t...
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The report is the by-product: what a carbon inventory is really for
Ask most businesses why they’re measuring their carbon footprint and you’ll hear one of three answers: a customer asked for it, a tender required it, or a regulation is coming. All fair reasons. But if the only thing you get...