Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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422. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the climate action plan for schools will be announced; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [64712/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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My department is leading an ambitious sustainability agenda and has already progressed a wide range of measures to improve the sustainability and energy performance of our school buildings as we work towards Ireland’s 2030 and 2050 climate targets. This work is fully aligned with the national Public Sector Climate Action Plan.

The Public Sector Climate Action Mandate is driving the overall public sector climate action agenda. The Public Sector Climate Action Mandate excludes the school sector which instead has its own dedicated School Sector Climate Action Mandate that best reflects the circumstances of schools and minimises the burden on schools where possible. This Mandate also acknowledges the distinctive role schools play in Education for Sustainable Development and in shaping climate awareness among young people.

The first School Sector Mandate was published in March 2023 and is updated annually to align with the principles of the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate while tailoring the particular requirements to the school sector.

The Public Sector targets require the overall school sector to reduce energy related greenhouse gas emissions by 51% by 2030 and improve energy efficiency by 50% by 2030. This work is being guided by the strategies set out in the School Sector Climate Action Roadmap, which was first published in July 2023 and is updated annually.

This roadmap provides a sector-specific pathway for improving the technical and operational sustainability of school buildings and sustainable school transport along with Education for Sustainable Development. The first School Sector Technical Climate Action Roadmap was published in 2023 and will also be updated annually.

The Department’s approach to the decarbonisation of the school sector is predicated on establishing a credible phased pathway to zero emissions, and meeting 2030 public sector targets through an evidence-based approach, informed by the Department’s Energy Research Programme which has been in place from 1997 with fifty six different research strands.

Together, the School Sector Climate Action Mandate and the School Sector Technical Climate Action Roadmap form the climate framework for the school sector and outline the trajectory to 2030.

The roadmap highlights the need for a flexible and tailored approach to the decarbonisation of the school sector to enable the school sector to meet the required targets. The principal challenge lies around decarbonisation of heating with renewable heating systems and to improve the energy performance of schools that were built at a time when fuel was plentiful, relatively cheap and technology and material choices were not as advanced as today. The roadmap has been developed based on one of the core principles of the pathfinder programmes, namely taking a progressive approach, where investments made do not require dismantling /removal within their lifespan.

Achieving the 2030 targets and the ultimate ambition of net zero emissions by 2050 will require Climate Action Investment and Delivery centring on the following key areas:

• Decarbonisation of new school building projects entering design under the School Building Programme.
• Completion of the School Energy Profile Inventory to establish the energy base line of the school estate enabling targeting and evaluating optimum choices for efficient and effective energy investment.
• Expansion of the Pathfinder Decarbonisation Retrofit Programme which is evaluating and demonstrating the approach to energy retrofit and carbon reduction in the school sector testing energy efficiency solutions and renewable heat technologies.
• Maximising renewable heating options in existing schools by transitioning high carbon fossil fuel towards renewable heating.
• Delivery of the Climate Action Summer Works Programme to progress climate action specific initiatives.
• Completion of rollout of 6 kW Photovoltaic Panels in schools, funded under the Climate Action Fund.
• Enhancing the Energy Research and Demonstration Programme.
• Enhancing with SEAI the Energy in Education Programme.
• Maximising opportunities to support the Climate Action Agenda through an asset management strategy.