Climate watchdog calls for urgent reduction of fossil fuels

The Climate Change Advisory Council is seeking an urgenh reduction in fossil fuel dependence. Picture: Larry Cummins

The Climate Change Advisory Council has written to the Government calling for the urgent reduction of dependence on fossil fuels, to shield people from the effects of the Ukraine crisis, and to achieve climate objectives.

In a letter to government leaders — Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Minister Eamon Ryan — the council said that the most impactful measures of the Climate Action Plan “must urgently be prioritised and accelerated at a rate not previously foreseen”.

The council highlighted that the current energy crisis, triggered by the invasion of Ukraine, “further emphasises the urgency with which we need to reduce our reliance on imported fossil fuels”.

While supportive of the Government’s emergency response to the crisis, the council stated that future measures should be targeted at those in challenging circumstances, fuel poverty and with low incomes.

In its letter, the council outlined a number of measures that could be adopted to accelerate the decarbonisation of the electricity sector, and reduce current exposure to the volatility of cost and supply of imported energy.

Making the planning system for renewable infrastructure projects more efficient, the accelerated rollout of smart energy meters and time-of-use tariffs to change people's energy  habits, and ramping up retrofitting were among the suggestions of the council to tackle the current energy, and ongoing climate, crises.

“The window for effective action on climate change is rapidly closing but many of the actions we can take to address the energy crisis can also support our objectives on climate change,” said council chairperson Marie Donnelly.

“An accelerated and strategic approach to the decarbonisation of the electricity sector and escalating the clean energy transition in heating and transport will be crucial to reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and helping us achieve our climate targets. I would urge all of government and the public to support the delivery of that ambition,” she said.

The council also recommended that district heating should be deployed as a priority solution for residential heating. This involves supplying heat to homes through hot water in a network of insulated pipes. 

In this way, heat is delivered similarly to an electricity system, as opposed to fuel being delivered to homes to burn. This allows waste heat from industry to be directed to homes, and the use of more environmentally-friendly energy sources for central heat production.

Meanwhile, a Limerick council meeting heard calls for all new houses to be built with a chimney installed.

Fine Gael councillor Stephen Keary made the call at a meeting of Limerick City and County Council, supported by his party colleague, councillor Liam Galvin, who said the world has changed a lot since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Both Fine Gael councillor, Michael Murphy and Green Party councillor Saša Novak spoke against Mr Keary’s motion.

Mr Murphy said it has been agreed upon, at a national level, that there is a climate crisis.

“We have moved on from burning fossil fuels. It [the chimney] would be purely ornamentation,” he said.

The matter will be voted on at the next full meeting of Limerick Council.