Ireland cut greenhouse gas emissions by just 1.9% last year

Power generation emissions decreased by 1.8% due to an increase in renewable energy and a reduction in coal, oil, and peat use.

The electricity sector has now used 49% of the 2021-25 emissions budget. Annual emissions reductions of 17% are now required from 2023-25 to stay within budget.

Agriculture emissions decreased by 1.2%, driven by reduced fertiliser use which offset the impact of an increase in livestock numbers.

Residential emissions decreased by 12.7%, with the impact of higher fuel prices, new regulations that ban the use of smoky fuel, and milder weather evident.

However, transport emissions increased by 6% in 2022 as the covid rebound continues.

Ireland must speed up its unacceptably slow delivery of public transport infrastructure to tackle transport emissions, warned Brian Caulfield, a Trinity College Dublin professor in transportation and head of discipline in the department of civil, structural, and environmental engineering.

Unless Ireland “smashes” its electric vehicle targets by 2025, it has no hope of reaching its ambitious 2030 targets, he said.

Transport greenhouse gas emissions increased by 6% last year following a similar increase in 2021. But transport emissions in 2022 did show some modest improvement from pre-covid levels, falling 4.6% below 2019 levels.

However, higher transport activity in both private cars and freight transport is eroding the impact of increasing numbers of electric vehicles.

In 2022, there were 72,000 battery electric (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric (PHEVs) which is approximately 37% of the Climate Action Plan target for 2025.

“I’m surprised the 6% [increase] is not higher,” said Prof Caulfield. “To stay on target with the carbon budgets we need to be reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 6% a year.

“We’ve lost 6% in 2022, so do we have to catch up by 12% reductions in 2023? That’s unlikely to happen.

“We seem to be on target for electric vehicles overall, but that target includes a lot of hybrid plug-ins which are not as beneficial as plug-in battery electric.”

And unless we’re “smashing” our targets for 2025 of 175,000 EVs it will be impossible to reach the much higher figure of 845,000 EVs in circulation by 2030, he said.

“The difference between the two is 670,000 EVs — we have to sell over 130,000 a year to reach that target. We sell 100,000 cars a year on average.”

Improved public transport is key to reducing transport emissions, Prof Caulfield said.

“We need to be really upping the pace in the public transport transition.

The light rail system in Cork has been delayed again — we know how to build it, the people in Cork want it, and we have the money — so let’s get on with it.

“We have to fit 50 years of public transport development into 10 years.

“I fear we’ll have the same conversation next year and the year after about missing targets until the public transport is delivered.”

Annual emissions reductions of 9%, 8%, 7%, and 5% are now required from 2023-25 in the industry, agriculture, residential buildings, and transport sectors respectively to meet Ireland’s binding carbon budget commitments, according to the EPA.