Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
LAST UPDATE | 15 Apr
DEVELOPING REGULATIONS ON car advertising, expanding onshore and offshore wind farms and improving the energy performance of buildings are among the measures detailed in the government’s new annual climate plan.
Cabinet has approved the new Climate Action Plan 2025, setting out the climate measures that the government intends to implement over the coming year.
The measures are aimed at reducing Ireland’s emissions, preparing for the impacts of climate change and supporting a just transition for workers.
However, climate activists say the plan does not adequately set Ireland on a path towards meeting its legally binding obligations.
“It largely ignores the twin elephants in the room: runaway data centre expansion and escalating reliance on fossil fuel infrastructure, particularly gas,” said Friends of the Earth climate policy campaigner Seán McLoughlin.
Likewise, Oisín Coghlan, coordinator of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, said that the plan “lacks the scale and urgency to cut emissions in line with Ireland’s legally binding pollution limits”.
“Its focus on 2030 is misleading. The first five-year carbon budget period ends in December and there’s no sign of the corrective actions required to cut pollution fast enough to meet it,” Coghlan said.
A media statement from the Department of Environment, Climate and Energy acknowledged that although Ireland is making progress in reducing emissions, more work needs to be done.
Figures included in the plan showcase the slowness of Ireland’s emissions reductions to date in many sectors.
The transport sector has reduced its emissions by just 4.2% between 2018 and 2023 despite a 50% reduction target for 2030.
The agriculture sector’s target for 2030 is a 25% reduction compared to 2018 but its emissions have only fallen by 2.9% as of 2023.
Progress has been better in the electricity sector, which has reduced emissions by 26.2% between 2018 and 2023, but will still need to ramp up effort to reach its 2030 target of 75%.
Measures in the plan around decarbonising electricity include various schemes and supports for renewable energy, as well as examining long-duration energy storage and managing flexible energy demand.
Auctions will be held for developers to secure contracts for onshore and offshore wind farms.
A bill is to be published by September to transpose EU legislation on the energy performance of buildings, as well as a draft of a new National Building Renovation Plan before the end of the year.
The new Climate Action Plan notes recent recommendations given to the government by the Climate Change Advisory Council and says that it has incorporated these “in so far as it is possible to do so”.
One of the Council’s recommendations was that the government should cease subsidising fossil fuel consumption. However, this is not included as a measure in the new Climate Action Plan.
In the transport sector, the Department of Transport should submit a memo to Government before September about measures to regulate car advertising in the context of climate considerations, the plan details.
It has also been tasked with running a targeted advertising campaign encouraging people to switch to sustainable transport modes and supporting research on Ireland’s car dependence.
There should be 170 new high-powered electric vehicle chargers on the motorway network and 150 charging points rolled out at sports clubs and community facilities.
Meanwhile, the National Transport Authority and Transport Infrastructure Ireland are responsible for delivering 200km of walking and cycling infrastructure in 2025.
In the agriculture sector, which is responsible for one-third of Ireland’s total emissions, the plan focuses on measures like reducing reliance on chemical fertilisers, reducing the finishing age of cattle, and increasing the uptake of organic farming.
The plan notes that agricultural emissions have decreased but are still higher than the desired level outlined in the previous climate action plan.
By the end of June, the Department of Environment needs to publish a report on the second phase of the government’s Land Use Review. Later in the year, it also needs to review progress towards reaching a 2030 target for rehabilitation of an additional 30,000 hectares of peatlands and the possibility of increasing that target.
The plan also considers how to smooth the transition towards a carbon-neutral society for workers who may be most affected by the resulting shifts in the economy, especially in the midlands.
Most of the plan focuses on mitigation measures that deal with lowering Ireland’s emissions but it also looks at how the country can adapt to the looming risks and impacts of climate change.
The Environmental Protection Agency was tasked with creating a national climate change risk assessment, which will then inform the development of adaptation plans for many specific sectors, ranging from electricity and flood management to tourism and heritage.
The plan has not allocated all of the emissions reductions that need to be made between 2026 and 2030 to specific sectors.
The carbon budget for that period, which was agreed in 2022, includes 26 MtCO2eq worth of emissions reductions that still have not been assigned to a particular sector, which has been a sticking point for climate activists and sectoral representatives who say industries need clarity about what is going to be expected of them.
The new plan says that recommendations in relation to the unallocated savings will be made this year.
The full Climate Action Plan 2025 and the accompanying Annex of Actions are available online.
In previous years, iterations of the climate action plan have been released in November or December ahead of the forthcoming year.
However, the publication of the 2025 plan was postponed amid the general election.
Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore, the party’s climate spokesperson, said today that the plan should always be released in December.
“It’s already mid-April and we’re only now going to see the Climate Action Plan – the publication process requires more transparency and accountability in this respect so that it is timely and released at regular intervals,” Whitmore said.
“The Climate Action Plan should always be released in December of each year, without exception – the climate crisis will not make an exception for us,” she said.
Green Party Leader Roderic O’Gorman said he believes the plan shows signs that the “foot may be coming off the pedal, right at the most critical time”.
“The version of the 2025 plan that didn’t get published in December was actively preparing for this milestone and referred to the 2026 Climate Action Plan as a standalone plan geared towards the next cycle of carbon budgeting. There is no mention of the importance of next year’s plan in the document published today,” he said.
Earlier today, the Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organisation released a joint State of the Climate report for Europe.
It identified that Europe experienced its warmest year on record in 2024 and that extreme weather events fuelled by climate change caused €18.2 billion worth of damage and destruction.
Hundreds of people died in Europe last year as a result of severe weather last year, with at least 335 people killed due to storms and flooding.
Western Europe saw one of its wettest years recorded since 1950 and nearly one third of Europe’s river network experienced flooding that exceeded at least the ‘high’ flood threshold.
Sea surface temperatures in European waters hit record highs and there was widespread ice loss, with glaciers in Scandinavia and Svalbard seeing their highest rates of mass loss on record.
Unsure of what exactly is happening with the earth’s climate? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to finding good information online.
have your say