Addressing Data Gaps Top Image

Addressing Data Gaps in Northern Ireland’s Industrial Energy Use

Northern Ireland’s industrial sector plays a pivotal role in the region’s economy, contributing significantly to employment, innovation, and economic output.

However, as the global community intensifies efforts to combat climate change and transition to a low-carbon future, understanding and optimising energy use and productivity within industry has become increasingly critical.

Accurate and comprehensive data on industrial emissions and productivity is essential for informing policy decisions, identifying energy efficiency opportunities, and supporting the development of sustainable energy strategies. Despite its importance, significant data gaps persist in Northern Ireland’s industrial energy use, hindering the ability to fully assess and address the sector’s energy demands and environmental impact.

 

Objectives

  • Create and populate sector archetypes with global, statistical and actual company data
  • Gap-analysis of emissions and productivity data to enable comparative insights and strategies to address data gaps.
  • Integration and presentation of the data into the Knowledge Sharing Platform (KSP) for ongoing analysis. 

 

Background

  • This initiative expands on the groundwork laid by the Industrial Decarbonisation Northern Ireland (ID-NI) 2024 project, addressing key gaps in the Department for the Economy (DfE)'s energy knowledge that were identified through extensive engagement with all 11 local councils across Northern Ireland.
  • The ID-NI project has established a robust knowledge-sharing platform and data architecture, which enables this approach, incorporating essential confidentiality and data protection measures. To date, ID-NI has successfully engaged with individual companies, who have contributed detailed energy usage data to initial databases across the identified sectors, laying a strong foundation for further analysis and action.

 

Current State of Play

 

 

 

 

Comparison of Carbon Efficiency in the UK: Sectoral Analysis

The first graph shows kgCO2e/GVA between each sector. The ‘IDNI’ figures represent data collected directly via the Industrial Decarbonisation Northern Ireland (IDNI) programme. ‘NI’ and ‘UK’ represent statistical data associated with Northern Ireland, and the United Kingdom, respectively.

The second graph indicates the impact of outliers skewing the datasets. A median line close to the lower quartile range indicate the high emission low value-added companies are pulling the distribution toward the higher end.

Outliers for General Manufacturing and Construction Products have been excluded from the second graph to improve readability

Comparison of Carbon Efficiency in the UK: Sectoral Analysis

Comparison of Carbon Efficiency in the UK: Sectoral Analysis

The first graph shows tCO2e/job between each sector. The charts indicate that emissions per employee are consistently higher in Northern Ireland than the UK. IDNI data collected for materials and mining archetypes suggest otherwise, but the sample size means this dataset should be approached with caution.

The second graph shows the same results without the construction products outlier.

Comparison of Carbon Efficiency in the UK: Sectoral Analysis

Comparison of Carbon Efficiency in the UK: Construction Products

IDNI Data only extends to Glass, Bricks, Pre-cast Concrete and other materials. The data collected for IDNI on both graphs suggests far lower kgCO2e/GVA and tCO2e/job than the UK and using other NI data.

 UK Construction Products data for kgCO2e/GVA is represented by a baseline industry estimate.

Comparison of Carbon Efficiency in the UK: Construction Products

Comparison of Carbon Efficiency in the UK: Food and Drink

IDNI Data only extends to Animal Feed, Red-Meat, Dairy Products and other foods.

NI and UK exhibit higher kgCO2e/GVA within all sub-sectors. However, when IDNI emissions are compared with jobs, Animal Feed and Dairy products produce far higher levels than in NI and the UK.  Suggesting a higher value added per unit of emissions but a lower carbon efficiency of employment.

Comparison of Carbon Efficiency in the UK: Food and Drink

Comparison of Carbon Efficiency in the UK: Materials and Polymers

IDNI data for Paper and Card shows a high value-added low emission sub-sector compared with UK and NI data, Plastic Products and Components exhibit a similar pattern. Material, Polymers and Plastics contain the fewest number of companies within IDNI sectoral data (excluding Mining and Quarrying) and so will be most affected by selection bias.

Comparison of Carbon Efficiency in the UK: Materials and Polymers

Comparison of Carbon Efficiency in the UK: General Manufacturing

The IDNI data within General Manufacturing contains a lower kgCO2e/GVA and tCO2e/job for all subsectors, with Electronics and Controls being the most extreme case. It is the most represented sector within the datasets and so provides the greatest level of insights into industry benchmarks.

Comparison of Carbon Efficiency in the UK: General Manufacturing

Tabulated Sectoral Averages

Northern Ireland Sectoral Average kWh per Job tCO2e per kWh tCO2e per job GVA per job kWh per £ GVA
Construction Products 168,185 0.000236 39.75 £61,435 2.74
Food and Drink 69,376 0.000245 17.01 £52,556 1.32
General Manufacturing & Engineering 35,820 0.000275 9.84 £78,926 0.45
Mineral Products 153,494 0.000213 32.77 £83,728 1.83
Materials, Polymers & Plastics 110,416 0.000261 28.86 £65,119 1.70

 

 

United Kingdom Sectoral Average kWh per Job tCO2e per kWh tCO2e per job GVA per job kWh per £ GVA
Construction Products 144,314 0.000198 28.60 £67,199 2.15
Food and Drink 73,113 0.000197 14.41 £83,159 0.88
General Manufacturing & Engineering 38,068 0.000205 7.79 £103,690 0.37
Mineral Products 181,333 0.000165 29.96 £564,046 0.32
Materials, Polymers & Plastics 107,374 0.000211 22.64 £66,856 1.61

 

 

Sectoral Average kWh per Job Construction Products Food and Drink General Manufacturing & Engineering Mineral Products Materials, Polymers & Plastics
Northern Ireland 168,185 69,376 35,820 153,494 110,416
United Kingdom 144,314 73,113 38,068 181,333 107,374

 

 

Sectoral Average tCO2e per kWh Construction Products Food and Drink General Manufacturing & Engineering Mineral Products Materials, Polymers & Plastics
Northern Ireland 0.000198 0.000197 0.000205 0.000165 0.000211
United Kingdom 0.000236 0.000245 0.000275 0.000213 0.000261

 

 

Sectoral Average tCO2e per Job Construction Products Food and Drink General Manufacturing & Engineering Mineral Products Materials, Polymers & Plastics
Northern Ireland 39.75 17.01 9.84 32.77 28.86
United Kingdom 28.60 14.41 7.79 29.96 22.64

 

 

Sectoral Average GVA per Job Construction Products Food and Drink General Manufacturing & Engineering Mineral Products Materials, Polymers & Plastics
Northern Ireland £61,435 £52,556 £78,926 £83,728 £65,119
United Kingdom £67,199 £83,159 £103,690 £564,046 £66,856

 

 

Sectoral Average kWh per £ GVA Construction Products Food and Drink General Manufacturing & Engineering Mineral Products Materials, Polymers & Plastics
Northern Ireland 2.74 1.32 0.45 1.83 1.70
United Kingdom 2.15 0.88 0.37 0.32 1.61
Tabulated Sectoral Averages

Outcomes

  1. Linking tCO2e and productivity requires data gathering on NI total tonnage and GVA
  2. There is a variety of carbon-related challenges with sectoral archetypes
  3. There are some sectors where NI may have a comparative advantage
  4. Global comparators generally widely spread – carbon taxes might have unpredictable impacts
Outcomes

Addressing IDNI Data Gaps

Gaps in data points results in some large sectors of Northern Ireland being underrepresented.

Having a full view of Northern Ireland sectors, focused on productivity and emission data will highlight specific industrial shortfalls.

Use of the Productivity and Emissions Tool (PET) and engagement in Communities of Shared Interest (COSIs) will facilitate an improvement in available data.

Addressing IDNI Data Gaps

Aim of Shared Interest KSP

  • Help the transfer of information
  • Share success stories in innovation and green technologies
  • Expand insights to a sector-wide industry analysis
  • Open communication channels
Aim of Shared Interest KSP

Productivity and Emissions Tool – PET

PET benchmarks company productivity across UK sectors using SIC codes for COSI formation, allowing companies to upload key productivity factors like energy, transport, and raw materials.

IDNI Portal shows consumption and emission profile, which, when combined with PET data, Gross Value Added (GVA), and COSI, generates industry benchmarks.

Productivity and Emissions Tool – PET