Ireland exceeds emissions allocation by 5m tonnes

Ireland has exceeded its greenhouse gas emissions budget for the third year running and has moved even further from its climate action commitments. The Environmental Protection Agency says the country is now “significantly off course” in meeting the 2020 EU target.

The country overshot its emission allocation by 5m tonnes last year and by 3m tonnes in 2017. In 2016 it was off target by almost 300,000 tonnes. There was a significant reduction in emissions from energy last year but that was mainly because of maintenance work carried out at the Moneypoint station in Clare.