Ireland will not need to invest in a costly State-owned gas terminal to maintain its energy security if it pursues a carefully timed phase-out of fossil fuels over the next 15 years, the chair of a key climate advisory body has said.
Addressing a committee of politicians on Wednesday, Marie Donnelly said Ireland may need a liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing facility with storage, but with an orderly phase-out of costly fossil fuels, and using biogas as backup in the form of biomethane from extensive used of anaerobic digestion technology, it will not be necessary.
Without a phase-out of fossil fuels, householders and businesses face increased energy costs, while even more fines and compliance costs would hit the State, warned Ms Donnelly, chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council, which is an independent organisation that advises the Government on climate change, carbon budgets and the transition to clean energy.
The cost of setting up and operating an LNG facility is in the order of €900 million, including lease and operating costs, according to analysis by Cambridge Economic Policy Associates in its review of the State’s energy security, commissioned by former climate minister Eamon Ryan in 2022.
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Ms Donnelly noted that Ireland faces more stringent limits on amounts of legally permitted carbon, so “phase-out and ultimately eliminating fossil fuels” is key.
Committing to emissions reductions is necessary to allow the country to achieve carbon neutrality, she said.
To enable the phase-out, the Government “must urgently commit to making the necessary investment, taxation and policy decisions”, she told the Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy.
“It needs to prioritise investment and resources now to save people and businesses money by phasing out fossil fuels to avoid future fines and compliance costs, maintain competitiveness in a low-carbon world and enhance resilience to climate change,” she said.
A notable success is the programme of deep retrofits of houses, she said. This decarbonisation of buildings has been helped by the ring-fencing of carbon tax.
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The least successful sector is forestry, while reducing transport emissions remains the most challenging sector, she said. Despite policies to incentivise afforestation with financial incentives, key targets were missed.
Ms Donnelly said “the sector is in total disarray”, with an annual target of 8,000 hectares a year, and reaching only 2,000 in a good year. “It’s a real challenge to understand and deal with the reluctance of those who have land – farmers and others – to invest in forestry.”
