What will the Irish Government’s Declaration of a Climate Emergency and Project Ireland 2040 actually do?

Irish Government Declares Climate Emergency

The government recently declared a state of climate emergency. This achieved a lot of media attention, some of it positive. We followed up with the various Irish government departments who will be involved in delivering this to find out what the actual details of this will actually mean. We hope this does achieve positive goals, and results for everyone’s sakes. This is the first in a series of pieces where we try to get more specific answers to these questions to better understand what is planned. The first initial answers below came from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Ireland has a high potential to generate a large amount or even all of it’s energy from renewable energy, what are the government’s plans to integrate this into the 2040 strategy?

The endorsement of the Dáil on Thursday 9 May of a climate and biodiversity emergency is a significant statement and underlines the importance of the work underway on our all of government plan on climate.

At the same time, the Dáil also voted to endorse the report of the Joint Committee on Climate Action, published in March.  The Government has welcomed the publication of this report, which should rightly be seen as a milestone in Ireland’s climate policy.

The final report of the Joint Committee contains a detailed set of recommendations addressing polices and measures across a range of Government Departments and agencies. The recommendations are now being taken up by the Government in the context of the All of Government Climate Plan.

The Climate Plan will be published over the coming weeks. It will include a range of actions, across all sectors – including heat, transport, industry and agriculture –  to step up Ireland’s response to climate change and reduce emissions to ensure we meet our goals.

The central ambition of this plan will be to make Ireland a leader in responding to climate change. The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment is working with colleagues across government to develop new initiatives across electricity, transport, heat, as well as a range of other sector.

Decarbonising our electricity supply is a crucial part of reducing our overall emissions. Minister Bruton has indicated that in the all of government climate plan, a more ambitious target of 70% will be set, compared to 30% today. This will increase the climate impact of switching to electric vehicles and renewable heat systems.

Climate action is the single largest investment priority under Project Ireland 2040. The investment priorities in this area represent a step-change in Ireland’s delivery of climate-action objectives which are designed to substantially reduce carbon emissions over the period to 2030. The way in which we generate energy, and how we use it, has to fundamentally change. This change is already underway with the increasing share of renewables in our energy mix and the progress we are making on energy efficiency.

Project Ireland 2040 The First Year: Annual Report 2018  sets out progress achieved in the first year of Project Ireland 2040, including progress in relation to a range of planned investments in climate-action:

Investment by the ESB of over €1.1 billion with €250 million in renewable generation projects.

Exchequer investment in improving the energy efficiency of the built environment sector exceeded €100 million in 2018 supporting sustainable and energy efficient changes in the building of 21,350 homes, 322 businesses and 37 community groups.

In 2018 the number of electric vehicles on Irish roads doubled. CSO figures show, for the first four months of 2019, 3289 electric vehicles were registered for the first time in Ireland.

The Climate Action Fund was launched in 2018. In November 2018, seven successful projects from the first call for applications were announced. The Exchequer support provided to these projects will amount to €77 million, and will lead to a total investment of over €300 million in climate action measures.

How will we be able to assess if project 2040 is on track and performing well or not?

 On May 2 May 2019, An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar and Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe, launched Project Ireland 2040 The First Year: Annual Report 2018, a synopsis of the strong progress made so far under the plan as well a roadmap of what is still to come. In the first year since its launch, Project Ireland 2040 points to clear progress across all its goals including compact growth, enhanced regional accessibility, strengthened rural economies and communities and the transition to a low carbon and climate resilient society.

Also unveiled was MyProjectIreland, a new citizen-focussed interactive map developed in partnership with Ordnance Survey Ireland which allows the user to navigate projects around the country, finding out what is happening in their region. By clicking on gov.ie/2040, citizens will find a collection of information on what has been achieved in and what is planned for their own local area which may help them to decide where to work, live, study and invest. The map will be revised and updated over the life-time of the plan.

Additionally, specific progress on Project Ireland 2040 is available in a set of documents called Project Ireland 2040: Region by Region which gives more in-depth information about what has happened to date under the plan and what is yet to come on a region-specific basis. These documents set out the regional projects and programmes which are being planned and delivered in every county of Ireland, as part of the public investment detailed in Project Ireland 2040.

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