Climate change: Planned actions show ship of State finally turning to tackle challenge

The ship is finally turning to face the right direction with a myriad of actions spelt out in the Government’s 2024 climate action plan, approved by Cabinet on Wednesday, attempting to accelerate progress towards halving carbon emissions by 2030.

The critical areas to achieve necessary momentum are:

Transport

Transport has become the big problem in trying to slash emissions, and difficulties are compounded by all major infrastructure projects in this sector being stuck in planning.

That includes BusConnects, DartPlus, Cork light rail and Galway cross-city route, but Minister for Climate and Transport Eamon Ryan is predicting many of these projects will get the go-ahead next year. Also, there will be a marked shift to use of rail freight linked into ports that will deliver significant emissions reductions in time.

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Two other big developments will happen in 2024. The Department of Transport will publish its demand management strategy – a plan to end congestion and reallocate road space for public and active travel.

Separately, next summer will see major changes in Dublin city centre to improve public transport access and restrict “through traffic” – an attempt to create a place that people want to live in or visit.

A total of 65 new bus routes were launched across rural Ireland in 2023, adding 2.3 million annual kilometres to the public transport network with more to come next year. The other bit of good news is electric vehicle (EV) adoption is surging, with a total of over 109,000 EVs now on Irish roads – on track to meet the 2025 target of 195,000 EVs.

Energy/power generation

Emissions from electricity fell by approximately 16.7 per cent in the first six months of 2023. This is doing the heavy lifting on overall emissions reductions, which is necessary as electrification using renewables is set to become the chief enabler in decarbonising most sectors in the economy.

The first offshore wind auction was completed earlier this year, and this will see four projects produce enough clean indigenous electricity to power more than 2.5 million homes before 2030, if completed on time. The problem here too is planning delays that are already stalling timely roll-out of onshore wind and solar for starters.

Ireland now has 4.7 gigawatts of onshore wind and 600 megawatts of solar connected to the grid, following a record year of renewables connections in 2022. That can progress further in 2024 if planning is more streamlined with the backing of reformed planning legislation, and an efficient consent process for offshore developments comes available.

We are well on the way to being able to accommodate 80 per cent of electricity coming from renewables by 2030, though important grid enhancements are required urgently. Yes, that means overhead lines; underground cables, substations and storage capability at scale. It is the price to be paid for getting off fossil fuels, ensuring energy security for the State and, increasingly, providing cheap clean energy.

More progress can also be nailed down with roll-out of a national biomethane strategy to support sustainable development of Ireland’s anaerobic digester industry. It will be submitted to Government for approval shortly. Likewise, moves are needed to put in place the required infrastructure for green hydrogen, a clean fuel that can be generated when large quantities of offshore wind come on stream.

Buildings

The new climate plan allows for greater supports for retroffiting larger non-domestic buildings, which will complement the acceleration of retrofitting homes and deployment of heat pumps.

Despite acute problems in the housing sector, more than 43,000 home energy upgrades were supported by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland by end of November – up 85 per cent on the same period in 2022. This is expected to top 46,000 by year end with a robust pipeline for 2024.

Planning permission has been scrapped for the majority of domestic solar panels, VAT has been abolished on their purchase and households can now sell any excess electricity they generate back to the national grid. ESB Networks says there are now over 75,000 registered microgenerators across Ireland. The Irish solar revolution was unexpected and there is nothing to indicate it will not accelerate further in coming years.

Agriculture and land use

The climate plan is flagging further big changes in agriculture and land use, but this is not the big negative where emission reductions associated with farming and food production are often portrayed as being extremely difficult to achieve.

Using Teagasc’s revised MACC analysis, significant progress is predicted up to 2030 in the form of further reductions in fertiliser use, new technologies and deploying feed additives to reduce methane combined with other diversification opportunities.

The report also underlines the considerable potential of ‘carbon farming’, where farmers will be rewarded for agricultural methods aimed at sequestering atmospheric carbon into the soil and in crop roots, wood and leaves. But an EU framework for this has to be put in place – it is expected with a new European Commission next year.

Land use and land use change is a critical area for capturing carbon. All too often in Ireland’s case, however, it has been a source of carbon rather than being a major store of the greenhouse gas. Bog restoration and sustained scale-up of forestry are the main levers in ensuring the sector delivers on decarbonisation. The plan sets out a better way of accounting for land use emissions by focusing on activities and their impacts, but delivering on this will be extremely challenging.

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