Ireland

Under the Kyoto Protocol, Ireland committed to limit the increase in emissions in the 2008-2012 commitment period to 13% above 1990 levels. Under the 2009 EU Effort Sharing Decision, Ireland’s GHG emissions in non-ETS sectors (transport, agriculture, heating in buildings, waste and small industry) are required to be 20% below 2005 levels by 2020. The Department of the Environment Community and Local Government (DECLG) is responsible for climate change policy. A Cabinet Committee on Climate Change and the Green Economy is chaired by the Prime Minister and includes Ministers of the DECLG; Energy, Communications and Natural Resources; Agriculture, Food and the Marine; and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The Committee is supported by a Senior Officials Group. In March 2014 Ireland submitted its Sixth National Communication to the UNFCCC.

The National Climate Change Strategy (2007-2012), building on the first National Climate Change Strategy (2000), set out a framework for action to reduce GHG emissions. The Framework for Climate Change Bill published in 2009 provided for a statutory obligation on the Minister to propose a National Climate Change Strategy on a 5-year cycle and to review the previous strategy at the end of this time.  The current Programme for Government also envisaged the passing of climate legislation to “provide certainty surrounding government policy and provide a clear pathway for emissions reductions, in line with negotiated EU2020 targets”.

A Review of National Climate Policy was published in 2011, followed by an extensive consultation process. In 2013, a study by the Secretariat of the National Economic and Social Council was published, entitled “Ireland and the Climate Change Challenge: Connecting ‘How much’ with ‘How to’”. This study provided a longer-term agenda for climate policy, focussing on developing a socio-economic vision to underpin effective national transition to a low-carbon future by 2050 and defining the building blocks to help achieve this vision.

Following these studies, Ireland continued developing the basis of its National Low Carbon Roadmap, which will map out the scale of the challenge. In 2013 the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht considered the draft legislation and submitted a report on its findings to the DECLG. Final heads of the Bill were published in April 2014. The legislation allows for the creation of a national expert body on climate change to advise the government on the transition process and to place responsibilities on various Ministers to contribute draft Sectoral Plans and report against progress.

Energy supply

Ireland is highly dependent on external energy supply. Since the mid-1990s import dependency has grown due to an increase in energy use and a decline in indigenous natural gas production and decreasing peat production. In 2006 Ireland’s overall import dependency reached 90%, falling slightly to 88% in 2011 thanks to the growing use of renewables.

The current energy policy framework was established by the 2007 White Paper “Delivering a Sustainable Energy Future for Ireland”, the country’s first comprehensive energy policy document. It established measures to reduce GHG emissions and energy costs by promoting efficient energy use and directly contributing to security of energy supply, sustainable transport, affordable energy, competitiveness and environmental sustainability.

In renewable energy, Ireland is required by EU rules to derive 16% of gross final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020. To contribute to the target, Ireland aims to achieve 40% renewable electricity penetration by 2020 with 12% renewable consumption in the heat sector and 10% in transport. The IEA has labelled the renewable electricity target as one of the most ambitious in the world. At the end of 2012, 19.6% of electricity was generated from renewable energy sources, 5.2% in renewable heat, and 2.3% in renewable transport.

The 2012-2020 Strategy for Renewable Energy sets out five strategic goals: increase onshore and offshore wind; build a sustainable bioenergy sector; foster R&D in renewables such as wave and tidal; grow sustainable transport; and build out robust and efficient networks. To support this strategy, there are two Renewable Energy Feed-In-Tariff (REFIT) schemes. The REFIT 2 scheme applies to onshore wind, small hydro and landfill gas. The REFIT 3 scheme applies to biomass technologies.

The 2010 National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) demonstrates how EU renewable targets for electricity, transport and heating will be met. The 2012 Integrated Marine Plan (“Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth”) puts in place an integrated system of policy planning for marine affairs including renewable energy. The 2014 Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan provides a framework for the sustainable development of offshore renewable energy. In October 2014 the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources published a draft National Bioenergy Plan for 2014-2020, following on from a previous action plan which covered the 2007-2013 period.

The 2007 White Paper is also being revised. In May 2014 the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources published “Energy Policy in Ireland”. This Green Paper aims to stimulate a national discussion on the new vision for energy policy, using the 2007 White Paper as a starting point. The next White Paper on Energy Policy should provide a vision of a sustainable energy system and the policy framework needed to achieve it. Drafting of the next White Paper will begin in the first quarter of 2015 with a view to publication by September 2015.

Energy demand

Energy demand fell 18% between 2007 and 2012, driven largely by the downturn in economic activity and gains in energy efficiency. Ireland has challenging targets to improve energy efficiency by 20% nationally and 33% in the public sector by 2020, set out in the 2007 Energy Policy Framework and further detailed in the first National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP). The third NEEAP was published in 2014 and sets out the actions that will be taken to achieve this goal, focusing on: public sector, business, residential, energy supply, research and development, and cross-sectoral actions.

For buildings, new regulations are due to be published in 2015 that should result in a minimum improvement of 40% in performance standards over 2008 requirements. The first national renovation strategy ‘Better Buildings’ sets out the strategy to mobilise investment in renovating the national building stock. The Better Energy Programme was launched in 2011 and brought three existing programmes (Home Energy Savings Scheme, Warmer Homes Scheme and Greener Homes Scheme) under one umbrella.

In 2013 the government committed EUR35m (USD43.9m) as seed capital for investment in a newly established Energy Efficiency Fund (EEF) with a view to expanding the fund to over EUR70m (USD87.8m) when matched with investment from the private sector.  The fund, which aims to kick start activity on non-domestic renovation by providing accessible and appropriately priced finance, was launched in 2014 and has already made several investments.

The National Energy Services Framework (NESF), published in 2013, makes energy efficiency projects investment-ready by creating standard reference materials including technical evaluation, procurement advice and model contracts to bring energy suppliers and clients together under an agreed set of protocols.

The promotion of energy-efficient appliances and equipment is regulated through the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling directives. A market surveillance programme is in place to ensure that only products that meet the specified energy efficiency criteria are available on the market.

An Accelerated Capital Allowance (ACA) Scheme for Energy Efficient Equipment (Triple E) encourages businesses to invest in efficient equipment. The scheme allows companies to deduct the full cost of approved equipment from taxable profits in the year of purchase rather than over the usual 8-year period. The scheme has over 10,000 eligible products and it is estimated that up to 85% of a company’s equipment procurement needs can be sourced through the ACA.

In the public sector, energy efficiency is being promoted through partnerships (public bodies commit to implementing a structured energy management programme, purchasing obligations and annual reporting), sharing of best practices, procurement and funding, as well as monitoring and reporting. The government is also planning to launch a public sector action plan on energy efficiency that will detail how the 33% public sector target for 2020 will be met, report on progress and outline new actions required to achieve the target. Particular areas for attention will include energy use in buildings, public lighting, water and transport. It will also examine the potential for large scale renovation works in each of the various categories of public sector buildings.

REDD+ and LULUCF

Agriculture accounts for the largest share of the country’s GHG emissions, 32.3% of total emissions in 2013, as opposed to the average of less than 10% within the EU. Deforestation is estimated to have averaged circa 1200 ha per year between 2008 and 2012, based on latest estimates from the second phase of the National Forest Inventory and data to be submitted to the UNFCCC for inventory year 2012.

The 2011 Programme for Government commits to the development of the forestry and bio-energy sector through the creation of a new state company called BioEnergy and an annual 14,700 ha afforestation programme. It also proposes the establishment of Bioenergy Ireland, a biomass joint venture between Bord Na Mona (relating to peatland) and Coillte (relating to forestry) to procure biomass.

Transport

Transport emissions accounted for approximately 19% of total national emissions in 2005, equivalent to an increase by 160% between 1990 and 2005. By 2011, activities associated with transport produced 27% of non-ETS emissions. According to the last National Communication submitted to the UNFCCC, the key policies in transport that have resulted in emissions reductions relative to the baseline are: encouraging lower CO2 emission cars in the national fleet; the biofuels obligation scheme; and the introduction of a carbon tax.

To encourage lower CO2 emission cars, the government rebalanced the Vehicle Registration Tax (through the Finance Act 2008) and Motor Taxation rates (Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Act 2008), and established more visible emission labelling. In 2013, a revised banding structure was introduced for both Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) and motor tax splitting the lowest CO2 Band A (1-120g/km) into four and Band B (121-140g/km) into two.  A zero emissions band for electric vehicles was also introduced for motor tax only. Reliefs from VRT are provided in respect of electric vehicles, plug-in electric hybrid vehicles, electric hybrid vehicles, and electric motorcycles. The changes have led to the percentage of motor cars registered emitting between 0 and 120 grams of CO2 per kilometre rising from 9% of the total in 2009 to over 68% of the total in 2014.

The biofuels obligation scheme commenced in 2010, and is administered by the National Oil Reserves Agency. The initial rate of the obligation was 4% by volume, increasing to 6% by volume in 2013. A carbon tax of EUR15/tonne (USD18.82) was introduced in 2009, initially on liquid-based fuels for transport, and later extended to liquid fuels for space and water heating in buildings. The rate was increased to EUR20/tonne (USD25.10) in 2011 for transport fuels, in 2012 for liquid fuels for space and water heating, and since May 2014 it applies to all fuels.

The government also considers electric vehicles as an important way to reduce energy consumption in transport, reduce fossil fuel imports and provide additional demand to balance the supply of variable renewable generation. The 2011 Electric Vehicle Roadmap commits to increasing electric vehicles (EVs) to 10% of the transport fleet (private passenger cars) by 2020, growing to 60% by 2050 in the medium scenario.  While the medium term target is still in place, the 10% target of 230,000 EVs by 2020 has been revised downwards to 50,000 to take account of slower than anticipated demand in recent years.

Adaptation

The National Climate Change Adaptation Framework, published in 2012, provides the policy context for a strategic national adaptation response to climate change and is designed to evolve over time as planning and implementation progresses, and as further evidence becomes available. A two-phase approach has been taken; phase one is concerned with building the knowledge base; and the second phase involves the development and implementation of sectoral and local adaptation plans.

During phase one, progress has been heavily dependent on scientific data and outputs provided primarily by the EPA’s Climate Change Research Programme and others such as Met Éireann, Marine institute, DAFM, CoFoRD, OPW and National Universities. Relevant recent outputs include the 2012 Status of Ireland’s Climate report; the 2013 Ireland’s Climate the Road Ahead report; the 2013 Hydrodetect Project, and the 2012 Phenology study. Work on sectoral adaptation plans is on-going.

The EPA has been working on the development of guidelines for the integration of adaptation into local level planning, with a final set of guidelines due to be available for publication in early 2015.  It’s intended that these guidelines will be included in any updating of the statutory Planning Guidelines on Development Plans.  As local authorities review their development plans in the normal cycle, the local development plan will also be the ‘de facto’ local adaptation plan.

The General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2014 envisages that the Minister for the Environment, Community & Local Government shall, not later than 24 months after the passing of the Bill, submit to the government a national climate change adaptation framework.  The framework will set out the policies to ensure adaptation measures are taken at a sectoral and local level, with a review at least once every five years.