Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 5 November 2024
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government
Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework (Resumed): Discussion
3:00 pm
Mr. George Hussey:
Sectors can be good and can be bad, and sometimes there are falls in emissions that are temporary and that rebound. The reduction in emissions in electricity last year was a star performer if looked at it in a purely mechanical, quantitative sense, but we know the level of implementation of onshore wind and solar is nowhere near the levels it needs to be to get us to the point of 80% renewables by 2030. It is great to see reductions, but if it is a reduction that could rebound very easily for whatever reason, whether structural, price-related or other, that is tricky and not great. With transport, it seems like it is a more sticky structural problem we have. That is one of the main reasons the council is so interested in the area of the NPF to try to move us gradually towards more sustainable travel patterns and so on.