Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I thank the Chair and the committee members for having me here today as part of the enhanced climate governance and reporting procedures implemented by the 2021 climate Act. This provision in the Act supports greater transparency and accountability in how we plan and deliver our climate action. This committee has an important role in this process, that is, reviewing the climate action plan to support the delivery of our climate targets and meeting our sectoral emissions ceiling and carbon budgets.

As the committee will know, 2023 was the warmest year on record globally and record-breaking warming has continued so far in 2024. Since the 1980s, Europe has been warming twice as fast as the global average and is now the fastest-warming continent on Earth. We face increasing risks of reaching irreversible climate tipping points. The EPA's climate change assessment in January 2024 indicates that climate tipping points in the north Atlantic and north-western Europe could impact Ireland. Storm surges and rising sea levels pose a threat to coastal cities like Cork, Dublin, Galway, and Limerick as well as to critical infrastructure.

In response to these challenges, we passed the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act in 2021 and have published iterative climate action plans annually. Climate Action Plan 2024 sets out the roadmap to deliver on Ireland’s climate ambition. It aligns with the legally binding economy-wide carbon budgets and sectoral ceilings that were agreed by the Government in July 2022.

There are encouraging signs that our approach is starting to work as the EPA’s most recent inventory report showed that overall emissions in Ireland fell by 6.8% last year compared with 2022. The report showed a decrease in emissions across a number of sectors, with overall emissions falling below the 1990 baseline for the first time in three decades. We have seen decreases in emissions in energy industries of 21.6%, in agriculture of 4.6%, in residential of 7% and in industry of 5.8%. While transport emissions increased marginally by 0.3%, emissions are now 4.3% below 2019 pre-Covid levels. In contrast, our economy grew by 5% last year under the GNI* indicator, pointing to a decoupling of economic growth and emissions. Despite these decreases, it is important to note that the EPA’s projections report also stated that, at the current rate of emissions reduction, Ireland will not stay within the limits of the first two carbon budgets.

Meeting this challenge will require both systemic policy change and behavioural change at all levels and will also rely on technological advances over the coming years. We are continuing our efforts through our work in the land use, land-use change and forestry, LULUCF, sector. Phase 2 of the land use review is under way and three new working groups have been established to progress this work, namely a high-level oversight group, a technical working group and a citizen engagement working group. For unallocated savings, working groups have been established to set out an approach to consider proposals and make recommendations. These proposals are expected by the first quarter of next year.

It is widely acknowledged that the transport sector is challenging to decarbonise. This challenge is not unique to Ireland. In our previous climate action plans we have set out the "avoid, shift, improve" framework. This seeks to address travel demand, encourage modal shift and harness technology to improve the efficiency of our vehicle fleet. The year 2023 was the first ever in which passenger numbers on PSO public transport services exceeded 300 million. There was a 24% increase in passenger numbers during last year. There are now over 135,000 electric vehicles on Irish roads. The year 2023 saw the introduction of a standard E10 in petrol and increases in the renewable transport fuels obligation rate are continuing this trend of increases in renewable fuel blending. I believe we are now at the peak of transport emissions in Ireland. With the retirement of older vehicles, improved spatial and land-use planning, public transport delivery, safer cities and transition to electrification and alternative fuels, emissions are expected to decrease.

As we approach the end of 2024, I believe the progress we have made this year in our efforts to deliver on ambitious climate targets is bearing fruit. It is evident that more work is required. We will continue to develop and refine our approach to achieving the 51% emissions reduction by 2030 and will go net zero by 2050. I thank the committee members, who play a crucial role in reviewing and contributing to the Government's progress towards achieving our climate ambitions through providing oversight that enhances climate governance and accountability structures.