Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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188. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the way that the target of 500,000 homes to be retrofitted by 2030 and with 400,000 heat pump installations was calculated; the carbon reduction that each proposal is expected to deliver in each year until 2030; the alternative targets and estimated carbon reduction savings that were considered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3558/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The target of retrofitting 500,000 homes and 400,000 heat pump installations was initially set out in the 2019 Climate Action Plan.  That plan was underpinned by marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) analysis that provided the analytical basis for the identification of the most cost-effective pathway to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions across all sectors of the economy.  Inputs into the MACC at the time included GHG emissions projections data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Teagasc analysis on emissions from Agriculture and globally-sourced data on mitigation technologies.

The MACC identified the most cost-effective technological solutions necessary to reduce emission.  Retrofitting existing dwellings to BER B2 or cost optimal equivalent and replacing fossil fuel boilers with heat pumps were among the solutions identified.  The MACC also provided the most cost-effective sectoral split of emissions reduction across all sectors of the economy and was used to generate specific targets, including those for retrofit and heat pump installation.

The 2021 Climate Action Plan (CAP21), which replaces the 2019 plan, committed to reducing emissions from the residential and commercial buildings sectors to between 3.5 - 4.5 Mt CO2eq. by 2030, from 7.9 Mt in 2018.  CAP21 also set out an ambitious National Retrofit Plan detailing how the targets to retrofit 500,000 dwellings and to deploy 600,000 heat pump installations, in both new and existing dwellings, would be met. 

The National Retrofit Plan estimates that, between 2019 and 2025, almost 185,000 home energy upgrades will be delivered with over 83,000 to a B2/cost optimal level. When the emissions savings from the non-B2 upgrades are included, this is the equivalent of 120,000 B2 upgrades over the period.  As a result, there will a need to deliver, on average, approximately 75,000 B2-equivalent home upgrades per year from 2026 to 2030 to achieve the overall target of 500,000 by 2030.

Aside from reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, residential retrofit brings additional benefits, including reduced energy costs, improved comfort and health, less dependency on fossil fuels, and improvements in indoor and outdoor air quality.

The 2021 Climate Action Plan contain a range of measures and targets across all sectors of the economy, including targets for increased renewable electricity generation, an increase in sustainable mobility and the built environment in general.  Other targets in the built environment sector include:

·Strengthening the existing Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) requirements for new dwellings to effectively ban fossil fuels in new dwellings;

·Ramp-up of zero emissions heat in commercial buildings; and

·Increased targets for the roll-out of district heating. 

Reaching the targets set out in our Climate Action Plans and reducing our GHG emissions will only be achieved by all sectors of the economy and society working together to reach a common goal.