Campaign for Irish Government to Introduce Engine Idling Laws to Fight Climate Crisis

An online petition has been launched today calling for the Irish government to introduce laws and an awareness campaign to tackle engine idling, as part of the nation’s efforts to tackle emissions in line with its 2050 climate goals.

While idling laws are common across Europe and most US states, Ireland has yet to introduce such a measure, despite Environment Minister Richard Bruton mooting the idea in 2019.

The introduction of such laws and awareness campaigns could result in an annual saving of 40 tonnes of air pollution from Ireland’s 10,000-strong bus fleet alone. Meanwhile, if the average driver avoided idling for just 3 minutes every day of the year, CO2 emissions would be reduced by 1.4 million tonnes annually – the equivalent of taking 320,000 cars off the road.

The petition has been launched by IrishEVs.com, a consumer awareness website that aims to fight the common myths surrounding electric cars in order to show the crucial role that they can play in reducing our carbon footprint.

Tom Spencer, Editor of IrishEVs, commented: “The recent tailbacks created by the reopening of McDonald’s drive-thrus shows the urgent need for greater awareness around idling and the impact that it can have on public health and the environment – particularly in the context of Covid-19.”

“Idling for any more than 10 seconds uses more fuel and produces more CO2 emissions than turning off and restarting your engine. The impact of this is incredibly severe, and I think people would think twice if they were aware that traffic pollution causes 500,000 avoidable early deaths in the EU each year.”

“We hope that government ministers will see the public health and environmental benefits that an awareness campaign and regulations around idling will bring, and urge them to take action on this important issue as part of their climate targets – as they have been dragging their feet for too long.”

In 2019, Ireland reported the third second-highest greenhouse gas emissions in the EU, with transport accounting for the largest contributor of harmful emissions. The Irish government is bound to reducing emissions to 20% below 2005 levels by the end of 2020 – but is actually on course to increase them, putting the target of carbon neutrality by 2050 in doubt.

For more information, visit: www.irishevs.com and to sign the petition visit: http://chng.it/RVqT2JK655.