Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

One of the big challenges we have is to try to improve the energy efficiency of the built environment. That includes public and private buildings. We will be putting people in new houses that are far more energy-efficient under the current building regulations than the building regulations that would have applied heretofore. The energy efficiency of those buildings is far greater. The amount of energy that is used to heat them is far less and, therefore, there are less emissions. The focus at the moment has to be on the three big challenges that we have, none of which are actually carbon dioxide. They are hydrofluorocarbon, HFC, black carbon and methane. They are the ones that are warming up our environment at a rapid pace at the moment. They are going to become a far bigger challenge between now and 2035 than the challenges that we have to face by 2050. There was the Kigali agreement on HFCs last week, which is going to deal with and tackle that issue. We now need to look at the other two issues as well.

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