Ireland’s largest construction company, John Sisk & Son (“Sisk”) has announced an agreement with Certa to supply Sisk with Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) for use in plant and machinery on all of its Irish construction sites. Sisk is the first construction business in Ireland to mandate the switch to HVO across all sites.

HVO is a fossil-free biofuel typically made by reacting waste vegetable oils and animal fats with hydrogen to create fuel suitable for use in diesel engines. The switch to HVO will deliver Sisk a 90% reduction in CO2e and an 85% reduction in other harmful emissions such as particulate matter. The amount of diesel that Sisk uses annually emits 3,000 tonnes of CO2, this accounts for 60% of its scope 1 carbon emissions.

Earlier this year, Sisk successfully trialled HVO across a number of its civil engineering projects. With greater volume and distribution of HVO coming onto the Irish market, Sisk will implement HVO across its Irish business by the end of 2022. The business is also exploring similar supply arrangements for its European projects.

Ian O’Connor, Energy Manager, John Sisk & Son said: “Our transition to HVO is a major strategic step change and it will positively impact our carbon performance immediately. We estimate a 60% reduction of our Scope 1 emissions when the entire company is using this fuel. We have set ourselves ambitious targets to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and this is another important milestone on the journey. We will continue to monitor new technologies and innovation to ensure we are at the forefront of clean and efficient sustainable solutions.”

Andrew Graham, Managing Director, Certa Ireland said: “We are delighted to be supplying Sisk with our ground-breaking GD+ HVO product. This is a great opportunity to facilitate Sisk in their journey to achieve Net Zero by 2030.”

Sisk was the first construction business in the UK to utilise this sustainable fuel at its Northstowe project in Cambridgeshire for its client, Homes England. This project used circa 1.5 million litres of HVO. In April, 100% of site fuel used on Sisk projects in the UK was HVO. As a result, carbon emissions of Sisk UK operations have been reduced by 36%.