Latest news with #ClimateActionPlan2025
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
EPA report lets cat out of the bag on greenhouse gas emissions
Confirmation from the Environmental Protection Agency over the past few days that Ireland has gone backwards on its greenhouse gas emissions targets is hugely disappointing. People are blue in the face, listening to government ministers and policy makers constantly highlighting the important of climate action and their commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Now however, the EPA has let the cat out of the bag. Despite all that talk, the gap to where Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions must be by 2030 is widening. And it is not widening by a little. It is widening by a lot. The legally binding target is for Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions to be 51% lower, in 2030, than they were in 2018. A year ago, EPA analysis suggested that if every realistic climate policy in the Climate Action Plan was delivered on time, ahead of 2030, it might be possible to cut emissions by 29%, at most. Now, after receiving updates from Government departments and agencies, the EPA says the maximum reduction achievable, is only 23%. Either number - a cut of 23% or 29% - represents a massive failure. There is the global warming potential, and the climate damage, caused by not cutting emissions fast enough. But there is also a huge cost to the taxpayer. Recent analysis from the Irish Fiscal Council and the Climate Change Advisory Council suggested it could cost the taxpayer up to €26 billion for carbon credits by 2030, to make up the shortfall envisaged last year. But now that the emissions gap is bigger, the bill to the taxpayer will be bigger too. This feels like some kind of disaster unfolding in slow motion. The focus must shift from policy aspiration to practical implementation The key reason is that despite all the talk from politicians there is not enough focus on implementing and delivering the climate-related policies the government has signed up to. That is what Laura Burke, the Director General of the EPA, said when she launched the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Projections Report last Wednesday. "This highlights the economy-wide effort needed to decarbonise our society and the focus must shift from policy aspiration to practical implementation." That was how she put it. A key paragraph on page 10 of the EPA report, goes right to the heart of why we are going backwards. Know first, that these latest emissions projections were done on the basis of the official "Climate Action Plan 2024", published at the end of 2023. On page 10 the EPA report explains that: "Climate Action Plan 2025 is not specifically referenced in this report as it had yet to be published during the preparation phase of the 2024-2055 projections. A review was undertaken and there are no significant additional measures in CAP 2025 therefore no major omissions in these projections." What this paragraph is saying is that, with so few years to go before the crucial 2030 deadline, an entire year has been allowed to pass without a single important climate initiative, or effort, having been added to the policy mix. Yet there is no time to waste. Notwithstanding the need to constantly come up with new policy initiatives, the number one thing should be to deliver, as quickly as possible, on the climate- related commitments already made. Delaying difficult but inevitable changes only makes them harder to implement. It will not make them go away. 'Sustainable transport' Climate Action Plan 2023 introduced a so-called "Avoid-Shift" policy on transport. The aim was to introduce behavioural change and sustainable transport measures to save 2 million tonnes of carbon emissions. Central to that was a commitment to increase the price of petrol and diesel out to 2030 to encourage people to choose other modes of transport. So far there is no sign of any willingness by Government to follow through on that. But if they are not going to do it, what are they going to do instead to deliver the promised emissions reduction? Last year the target was 945,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2030. This year the EPA says the maximum possible is 640,750. Many observers doubt even that amount can be achieved - especially since tax incentives to encourage electric vehicle purchases have been reduced in recent years. What will the Government do to address that? There is also a commitment in the Climate Action Plan to use behavioural and sustainable transport measures to engineer a reduction in total vehicle kilometres travelled. We are still waiting for that, and very much more. Time is running out for climate action. We have one year less to go to an immovable deadline in 2030. The clear message from the EPA this week is that government inaction is the core of the problem and the potential bill for the public, which is already enormous, is rising by the day.
Irish Independent
08-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Amazon Web Services faces fresh delay over plans for three data centres in north Dublin
An Bord Pleanála wrote to AWS firm Universal Developers LLC in recent days, seeking to clarify the impact of the three planned data centres, with reference to the Government's recently published Climate Action Plan 2025. The letter seeking clarification comes more than 18 months after Fingal County Council's decision to grant planning for the three new data-centre buildings was appealed to the board. The board has now told Amazon Web Services that the information is necessary for the purpose of enabling it to determine the appeal. AWS has massively ramped up data-centre spending across Europe In the letter, the appeals board stated that it is seeking the applicant's response, in light of the publication of the Climate Action Plan in April 2025 and of another report, on Ireland's Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2023-2050, released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The reports were published after the preparation of an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR) as part of the planning application. As a result, the appeals board wants Amazon Web Services to re-affirm, or otherwise, findings in its original environmental assessment. The data-centre campus – on a 65-acre site at Cruiserath Road, Dublin 15 – would have a combined power load of 73MW. The appeals board has also told the applicants to provide evidence of capacity in the national grid to serve the development, and is seeking details of the energy provider who will connect the new buildings. AWS has until May 29 to provide a response. The letter comes more than 18 months after five third-party appeals lodged in relation to the proposed development with An Bord Pleanála in October 2023 contesting Fingal County Council's decision to grant planning for the three new data-centre buildings. Universal Developers LLC first lodged plans two-and-a-half years ago, in December 2022. The five parties who lodged appeals against the permission are Friends of the Earth, the Fingal One Future Group, Dr Colin Doyle, John Conway & Louth Environmental Group, and Mannix Coyne. AWS has massively ramped up investment in data-centre infrastructure across Europe since last summer, in anticipation of a long-term increase in demand for cloud services as a result of the roll-out of generative AI – the data-hungry processes that are rapidly being adopted by industries of all kinds. Since May, AWS has announced a combined €35bn of new investment in its European cloud infrastructure, mostly to build new data centres in Britain, Germany, Spain and France. Ireland has so far missed out on that expansion.
Irish Independent
29-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Urgent need for action on banking competitiveness, says watchdog
The watchdog, which reports to the Government on competitiveness problems in the Irish economy, says it has made three separate recommendations in the last four years highlighting the lack of robust competition in domestic banking, but work on this is still 'in progress'. As a way of measuring competition in Irish banking, the NCPC compared interest rates for loans to new businesses in Ireland versus the euro area over the last six years. It found that Irish rates have been consistently higher, a differential that affects the competitiveness of SMEs in particular. As of February, the interest rate in Ireland was 5.66pc while the euro area rate was 3.97pc. There is a similar picture with bank interest rates for new loans for house purchases. Ireland had a higher rate from January 2018 until mid-2022 when the euro area experienced a sharp increase. As of February, Irish rates stood at 3.79pc compared to an average interest rate of 3.33pc across the eurozone. 'The higher interest rates in Ireland compared to the euro area underscore the need for sustained efforts to enhance competition in the banking sector and reduce costs for businesses,' the report says. There are currently only three retail banks – AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB. This follows the departure of several other operators, including Ulster Bank and KBC. The NCPC, which is chaired by Dr Frances Ruane, points out that it has also made a number of recommendations about the need to reduce legal costs. However it says that this remains an issue, as does the speed of getting legal decisions, and is having a negative impact on the competitiveness of businesses in Ireland, especially on SMEs. Its report also highlights the need for Ireland to improve its supply and use of green energy. 'There clearly remains a need for significant progress to be made if Ireland is to deliver on its offshore wind ambitions in a timeframe that meets our competitiveness requirements and our green energy targets,' it says. 'Under the Climate Action Plan 2025, Ireland is currently targeting an offshore wind capacity of 5GW. In the case of the Netherlands and Denmark, these targets are 22GW and 13GW, respectively. At present, Ireland no longer has any operational offshore wind capacity, compared to 101GW of capacity in operation in Norway, 5GW in the Netherlands, and 202MW in Sweden.' The NCPC has done a 'look-back' exercise examining 79 recommendations it made to the Government over a four-year period. The review assesses the progress made in implementing these recommendations, and evaluates the Government's responses, between 2020 and 2023. The NCPC found that the Government fully delivered on 45 recommendations, while another 34 are still in progress. 'These require further action and may be completed in the near future,' the NCPC says. 'The fact that it is – relatively speaking – those recommendations made in more recent years which are still underway underscores the time taken to make progress and may point to the need for a more efficient pace of delivery.' Infrastructure is the only category to have more recommendations deemed to be 'in progress' than 'action taken'. As well as legal costs, this includes affordable housing, childcare costs, planning, energy and water/wastewater infrastructure, digitalisation, and training. Over the last two years, competitiveness has moved to near the top of the EU agenda. This follows publication of the Draghi Report, which called on the EU to close the innovation gap with America.
