Data Privacy

Data Protection Statement

Your privacy is important to us and we are fully committed to keeping your personal information safe. This data protection statement is intended to provide you with information about the personal information we collect about you and how that information is used and shared. It also sets out your privacy rights. Please take a moment to familiarise yourself with our privacy practices so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your personal data.

What is the Climate Toolkit 4 Business?

The Climate Toolkit 4 Business is an initiative of the Government of Ireland, jointly developed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. This Toolkit is designed to help your business get started on the journey to zero carbon and take some impactful steps to understand and address your environmental impacts.

Data Controller

For the purposes of this data protection statement, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment is the Data Controller for the Climate Toolkit 4 Business.

This means that we have certain responsibilities when we process or “use” your Personal Data. Part of these responsibilities include that we provide you with information about your personal data. This information is set out in this Data Protection Statement.

Our Data Protection Officer

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer, Ms. Celyna Coughlan for you to contact if you have any questions regarding this data protection statement, our privacy practices or if you wish to exercise your data rights.  Our Data Protection Officer can be reached by e-mail at: dataprotection@enterprise.gov.ie. We value your opinions. Should you have any questions or comments related to this data protection statement, please contact us at: dataprotection@enterprise.gov.ie.

Collection and use of your Personal Data

We fully respect your right to privacy and confidentiality. Any personal information which you input into the Climate Toolkit 4 Business will be treated with the highest standards of security and confidentiality, strictly in accordance with our obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018.

Data collected may include:

  • Information you choose to input to the carbon calculator tool including:
    • your sector,
    • the number of staff your business employs,
    • whether you are the owner of your premises and, if so, the size of the heated space,
    • your annual spend on and/or consumption of various fuel types, water and waste,
    • the number of business flights undertaken by staff of your company,
    • an estimate of the resource intensity of your operations.
  • If you register to create an account, the website will retain:
    • the name you register under,
    • your company name,
    • your email and password (note, the password is stored on a ‘hash’ format, meaning it is encrypted, so we store the encrypted password and then run a decryptor every time the user tries to login to see if the password is the correct one).
  • E-mail Subscription – if you subscribe to our e-mail Newsletter, we save your name & e-mail address in order to e-mail you with a copy of our Newsletter.

In addition, if you choose to register, you will be asked if you are a client of some State Agencies, and we will ask for your consent to share with them the fact that your business has engaged with the Toolkit. The relevant State Agency may use this information to contact you for follow-up or for internal statistical purposes. This is optional and you can still register with the Toolkit without agreeing to this sharing of information.

Also, if your business is categorised as ‘Leisure and Hospitality’ you have the option of accessing international benchmarks hosted by Fáilte Ireland. Any data provided as part of requesting these benchmarks will not be shared with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, but will be used in time to develop anonymised national tourism carbon footprint benchmarks per sector.

Collection and use of technical information

Cookie Policy

This site uses cookies – small text files that are placed on your machine to help the site provide a better user experience.

We use cookies to track your use of our website. This enables us to understand how you use the site and track any patterns with regard to how you are using our website. This helps us to develop and improve our website as well as products and/or services in response to what you might need or want.

Cookies are categorised as follows:

  • Strictly Necessary:

Strictly necessary cookies allow core website functionality such as user login and account management. The website cannot be used properly without strictly necessary cookies.

  • Performance:

Performance cookies are used to see how visitors use the website, eg. analytics cookies. Those cookies cannot be used to directly identify a certain visitor

  • Targeting:

Targeting cookies are used to identify visitors between different websites, eg. content partners, banner networks. Those cookies may be used by companies to build a profile of visitor interests or show relevant ads on other websites.

  • Functionality:

Functionality cookies are used to remember visitor information on the website, eg. language, timezone, enhanced content.

Listed Cookies & Preference Options are listed at the bottom of this document.

Usage of Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

What is our legal basis for using your personal data?

We are required by data protection law to indicate to you the legal basis which relates to our use of your personal data. Our legal basis for the processing or “use” of your personal data for the Climate Toolkit 4 Business is:

Article 6(1)(e) GDPR – processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise in official authority vested in the Controller (in this case the Controller is the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment; the “Department”).

Who has access to your personal data?

Staff in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with responsibility for the Climate Toolkit 4 Business.

This information will be provided by you when you insert details into the Climate Toolkit 4 Business website.

Your anonymised personal data may also be shared by us with third parties (e.g. other state agencies) to meet our legal obligations, applicable regulation or other lawful requests.

Data storage and retention

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment stores your personal data securely and will not retain or use your personal information for any longer than is necessary.

The personal data provided by you on the Climate Toolkit 4 Business will be retained by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment for a period of 10 Years.

These personal data will be securely destructed in line with our records management processes after that date. However, if you have created an account, any data associated with that account will be destructed automatically after 3 years’ inactivity.

International transfers

We do not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

Your data rights

You have certain rights under data-protection law in relation to how we use your personal information. You have the right, free of charge, to:

  • Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you. You can do this by completing a Subject Access Request (SAR) form. A copy of the form is available here.
  • *Rectify any inaccurate personal information we hold about you. If your personal data is incomplete, you have the right to have data completed, including by means of providing supplementary information.
  • Restrict processing of your personal information in certain limited circumstances (e.g. if you have contested the accuracy of your personal data, for a period enabling us to verify accuracy).
  • Not be subject to a decision which is based solely on automated processing where that decision produces a legal effect on you or otherwise significantly affects you. We do not make automated decisions of this nature.

We may take measures to verify your identity. We will do this by reference to copies of acceptable identification documentation supplied by you.

Making a complaint

In the first instance, we would ask you to contact us directly if you have concerns about how we process your personal data. You can do this by e-mailing us at: dataprotection@enterprise.gov.ie.

You can also Make a complaint with the Data Protection Commission (DPC) if you have concerns about how we process your personal data.

Changes to this data protection statement

If in the future we make any changes to our data protection statement, the latest version of our statement will be posted on our website. If you would like further information about this statement, please contact us at: info@climatetoolkit4business.gov.ie.