Ireland is Failing to Meet EU Climate Targets- Likely to Face €8 Billion Losses

Ireland is failing to meet EU climate targets

Ireland is failing to meet EU climate targets as stated by the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC). Despite a fall in greenhouse gas emissions last year, the rate of progress is not satisfactory, the council declared. 

The national and EU climate obligations clearly are not in line as the council warned that Ireland is failing to meet EU climate targets which were to be met by 2030.

The EU has set targets of reduction in emissions by 42 per cent when compared with 2005 levels. Any region that breaches the policy would be eligible for heavy fines. Ireland is slowly on track by only 25-29 per cent gas emissions based on the said criteria. 

Ireland’s failure to meet EU targets could result in unwanted consequences 

The council proclaimed that Ireland’s failure to meet these targets could possibly result in €8 billion losses. It is high time that the country needs to end its reliance on fossil fuels and directs its efforts towards other forms of fuels.

The council indicated that if the government does not formulate careful steps to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, then Ireland might end up paying heavy sums of money to other EU member states. 

Climate Change Advisory Council report details

During this year, the council has released seven reports about Ireland’s climate performance and its different sectors. 

A cross-sectional review is given in today’s report which repeatedly emphasises the fact that Ireland should stop its reliance on fossil fuels. 

Based on the council’s report, it is evident that Ireland is failing to meet EU climate targets since this year’s progress was not up to the mark and the efforts need to be taken at a larger scale. 

The council’s report urges the government to stop subsidising fossil fuels through various tax rates on petrol and diesel, and VAT and prevent businesses from using diesel. Exemptions for the aviation field and excise duty rebates for corporations are also not recommended, as marked from the report results.   

The report’s suggestions

The report stresses that the removal of fossil fuel subsidies should be done in a well-planned manner. The plan should be progressive and clearly timed with the likely outcomes. 

The plan must also inculcate protections and financial support for the most vulnerable sectors even those that are massively impacted.  

The Climate Change Advisory Council further suggested that if Ireland wants to prevent €8 billion in losses, or even higher, the new National Planning Framework must be redesigned with added fortification to be adopted in full before the end of the current year. 

A positive repercussion that this initiative would produce is the expansion of renewable energy infrastructure. It means that reductions in emissions that are associated with new building development would be noticed. The same stands true for the transport system.

Agriculture emissions need to be sorted out all over again. It points to the completion of the Land Use Review and a detailed implementation. This would enable the necessary reduction in agriculture emissions, a great contributor towards positive climate change in Ireland.  

A diverse range of bioeconomy would be maintained, as per the prediction of the report which would assist in maintaining a sustainable yet resilient rich economy in Ireland. 

Public efforts in reducing carbon emissions

Substantial support has been witnessed coming from households, businesses and communities that have switched to electric vehicles and heat pumps. These endeavours have supported reduced carbon emissions.

Home insulation has even helped people in curbing the high costs that were putting people off. 

Views of the Council’s chairperson

The chairperson of the Climate Change Advisory Council, Marie Donnelly said,

“We have the opportunity, now, to transform our society to a modern, climate-resilient, biodiversity-rich, environmentally sustainable and climate-neutral economy or else pay the price of not meeting our commitments which will take crucial funds away from essential services”. 

Ireland is failing to meet EU climate targets
Ireland is failing to meet EU climate targets, said CCAC chairperson (Source: Business Post)

She added that it is better to invest in fuel alteration initiatives for the households and business sectors of the country rather than paying hefty fines in future.

She explained that a major reason Ireland is failing to meet EU climate targets is due to “stubbornly high” transport emissions.

She clarified that Ireland was making progress to meet EU targets till last when good progress was observed by achieving the first carbon budget up to 2025. However, significant progress is still required to achieve targets for 2030, and this is where the risk of a fine of more than €8 billion comes in. 

Miss Donnelly elucidated that there was a massive drop in carbon emissions during the time of COVID-19 but Ireland needs to make progress by leaps and bounds now, which is a “really important target area”. 

Ireland has set national targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 51 per cent by 2030. When comparisons were made with 2018, it was noticed that the country is on track, though, quite slowly. Only a 29 per cent reduction has been achieved at present. 

She emphasised that without making significant progress in all sectors, it is not possible to meet EU targets by 2030 which would lead Ireland towards an exemption of €8 billion losses

Ireland’s own generation of wind and solar energies would be a great leap in this regard, Miss Donnelly reassured. Bringing housing developments close to public transport and services would help in reducing gases and smoke from the vehicles unless a full adoption of EVs is made, she said. 

Low carbon technologies that might help Ireland

Bank of Ireland vowed to prioritise climate action and environmental initiatives for which it planned to offer loans for general long-term investments. The scheme was meant to end in June 2026.

Till then, it was expected that Ireland would expedite its efforts with the bank loans in the said fields. 

The scheme was led by the departments of finance including enterprise, trade and employment, along with agriculture, food and marine sectors.

The infusion of low carbon technologies in areas such as building upgrades and renovations, roof and wall insulation, window replacements, LED lighting, more use of electric vehicles and a greater number of installations for their charging points etc were cited within the scheme.

Several of these steps have already been fulfilled by the civilians themselves, as mentioned earlier, however, Ireland still needs to re-strategise it on a greater scale.   

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