The national Climate Action Plan 2023 has been launched, implementing the newly established economy-wide carbon budgets and sectoral emissions ceilings.
Ireland now has carbon budgets for the years 2021-2025, 2026-2030, and 2031-2035. This means that, for each period, there is a total amount of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) that can be emitted nationally to remain within the budget[1]. Furthermore, that total has been subdivided into sectoral emissions ceilings, meaning each sector of the economy (e.g., electricity, transport, residential buildings etc) has a total amount that they can emit.
Ireland’s Climate Action Plan 2023 sets out action to reduce overall national emissions by 51% by 2030 and reach net zero emissions no later than 2050. Click the following links to view the Plan Summary Document or the full Climate Action Plan 2023.
[1] CO2e simply refers to a way of counting key greenhouse gases, which when released, cause the climate crisis.