The Climate Bill published on March 23rd teases what seems today, like almost a utopian society, a ‘climate resilient, biodiversity rich, environmentally sustainable and climate neutral economy’ by 2050.
To frontload this effort, Ireland is now set out to be legally bound to reduce carbon emissions by 51% below 2018 levels by 2030. This figure equates to almost double the yearly reductions that were required in the Climate Action Plan, first published in 2019.
As the reduction is based on 2018 levels, we are already on a reducing trajectory as in the last two years, emissions reduced by 4.5% and 5.9% consecutively. However, let's not forget that it took immobilizing the public and crashing the economy to achieve this almost 6% reduction. And even at that, it's still not enough. The climate bill requires a 7% annual reduction in emissions. If anything, the reductions necessary are of the same magnitude as those which occurred in the years following the infamous downfall of the Celtic Tiger.
So how can we reduce our carbon footprint without the added inconvenience of a plummeting economy and social lockdowns?
The bill leaves many questions as to how this national target will filter down to the sectoral level. The exact strategies for which will be published in the next revision of the Climate Action Plan. Such a massive target will undoubtedly require a dramatic system change impacting every corner and crevice of the Irish energy system. From what we already know, Ireland is reasonably successful in producing renewable electricity with major plans to branch into offshore wind in the coming years. However, transport and heat are much more difficult to decarbonize.
A major component of the Climate Action Plan is a target of almost 1,000,000 electric vehicles on the roads by 2030. This would go a long way to reducing emissions from petrol and diesel. However, this depends on 1,000,000 individual decisions and assumes that this is a financial viability for that many people. Furthermore, EVs don't solve the issue of congestion in urban areas, which is not in line with urban sustainability objectives.
From learning about transport decarbonization strategies and opportunities over the last year of my masters in sustainable energy in UCC, the overwhelming consensus is that public transport NEEDS to be a central focus to decarbonize private transport. Sustainable, reliable and integrated networks should be the arteries of mobility within urban areas, restoring priority to pedestrians and cyclists. This will pump incentive to more sustainable modes of transport. Private cars have long enough had full run of the streets of Ireland's biggest cities and towns. Cycle superhighways akin to bicycle enthusiasts, The Netherlands, have also been suggested to tackle Ireland's transport related emissions.
In terms of heat, a rapid rollout of the retrofitting programme aims to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions from home heating, again, a significant investment and relies on 500,000 individual decisions to meet this target. Over the past year, people will have become acutely aware of an increase in their energy consumption from heating their individual homes while working remotely. Therefore, this programme may well receive much more interest in the coming years given the long term cost benefits.
Overall, despite having some concerns about the achievability of the national target, I am optimistic about the significant change that the amended bill will induce. The next 10 years are pivotal in the fight against climate change and Ireland has a powerful opportunity to redeem itself from its reputation of missing targets, and position itself as a leader in sustainability moving forward.