At Horse Racing Ireland, our vision is to ensure Ireland will be the global leader in Horse Racing and Breeding, sustaining a vibrant and rural industry. Our mission is to develop and promote Ireland's horse racing and breeding industry to administer and govern the sport of horse racing in Ireland, and to cultivate and promote the highest standards of integrity and welfare.

Central to this will be a clear focus on environmental, social and corporate governance, and to set out and achieve challenging goals for the racing and breeding industry.

Horse Racing Ireland is fully committed to tackling climate change in an imaginative way, as well as bringing the wider industry along with us. We will work with our racecourses, our stakeholders and the thousands of people in all parts of the country who make up the racing and breeding industry, to promote the highest standards in sustainability and develop a strategy that is benchmarked against the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

Programme for Government 2020 ‘Our Shared Future’

The Programme for Government 2020 specifically referenced encouraging the implementation of climate and biodiversity friendly strategies across the sector. This combined with increasing regulation and national target setting as well as increased reputational risks and a recognition of the growing environmental and biodiversity crisis in Ireland requires HRI to establish a robust and ambitious approach to sustainability.

The Climate Action Plan 2021 provides a detailed plan for taking decisive action to achieve a 51% reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and setting Ireland on a path to reach net-zero emissions by no later than 2050.

The HRI Board have approved the adoption of the Climate Action Framework for the Commercial Semi-State Sector and are committed to achieving the ambitious targets as outlined in the Framework. 

A key priority of Horse Racing Ireland is therefore to lead on and develop positive initiatives that solve or address social issues and environmental challenges. The only way that these challenges can be solved is if stakeholders across the industry work together to implement practices and create solutions. 

 This is reflected in the efforts undertaken by HRI over the course of the past year to evaluate the current levels of sustainability within our organisation and ascertain our ambitions, to engage with our industry stakeholders, gain further insights and provide support and guidance to the industry, and to set out a clear approach and roadmap for delivery of our sustainability objectives.  Our first sustainability report, to be published in Q4 2023, is just the starting point of our sustainability journey and will provide the platform for us to measure and report our sustainability progress in detail in future years.  

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