Figures released recently by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) show a 7% drop in Irish climate pollution. While some of this can be attributed to the economic recession, that is not the whole story. The excellent work of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) to tackle energy efficiency in homes and stretch targets for renewable electricity has resulted in significant progress in the sectors related to power generation and home heating.
Welcoming the figures, Oisín Coughlan of Friends of the Earth said: “The reduction is primarily as a result of two things: the economic downturn and some excellent work in the energy and residential sector driven by strong national targets.
“The EPA projections show that it is well within our reach to meet our targets for 2020, but they warn big challenges remain to meet this target. We need to get our house in order so that when economic activity picks up we have a framework in place to keep reducing our emissions. The forthcoming climate legislation will be a cornerstone of a sustainable low-carbon economy.”
The Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan, has committed to publishing a draft climate bill before the end of the year.
Highlights from the EPA figures released today include:
- Our total emissions in 2011 are at 57.3 million tonnes, down almost 7% on the previous year.
- Ireland has a carbon budget of 314mT over 5 years under the Kyoto protocol. Current projections have us meeting this target.
- Projections show that meeting our EU targets in 2020 in not guaranteed but is certainly possible.
- The biggest decreases are in the sectors of Energy(mostly power generation) down 10.5% and Residential(mostly home heating) down 15.6%
- Renewables now represent almost 20% of overall electricity consumption. Ireland has a 30% renewable target for 2020 from the EU and a stronger 40% national target. This success in this area has resulted in significant replacement of fossil fuel power generation by renewable energy.
- Agricultural emissions are down just under 2% on last year. Agriculture accounts for over a third of our national emissions(32%)
- While emissions are down in transport this year this sector has seen the greatest overall increase since 1990 at 121%. Changes in the VRT have resulted in purchases of much efficient new vehicles. However, there are now twice as many cars on the roads as in 1990.