Government to spend €3.2m on air quality advisors to tackle climate change
Electrification of the road transport fleet will help to inform the Government’s Clean Air Strategy. The National Transport Authority announced in February an order for 120 double-deck battery-electric buses from Bamford Bus Company (trading as Wrightbus). PIcture: Julien Behal
Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions grew by 20% in the first quarter of 2022, compared to the same period last year, the third highest rise in the EU, according to the latest figures from Eurostat.
Details of the increase come as the Department of the Environment is set to spend €3.2m on air quality and climate modelling advisors to help the country achieve its climate change targets into the future.
The advisors will be required to develop models on how changes in transport policy will affect our air quality and climate emissions, and emissions across the economy more widely.
The Department said it is seeking support for its Climate Action Modelling Group, which supported the development of the Climate Action Plan.
It will also help to inform the Government’s Clean Air Strategy, which has not yet been finalised.
The strategy aims to build upon the Climate Action Plan with a range of measures that will incorporate coherent air and climate policy.
“These include the electrification of the road transport fleet, taking action in relation to ammonia, improving the energy efficiency of our homes and reducing our reliance on solid fuels," the department said.
It follows a recent report from the EU’s environmental watchdog that found no Irish city was classified as having “good” air quality over the past two years.
The air quality advisors will be required to develop an “integrated assessment model” of Ireland’s air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions, and the impact different policy levers would have on emissions across different sectors.
Specifically in the area of transport, the advisors will have to model the impact on air quality and climate emissions for a “variety of interventions and evolutions in the national transport sector over time”.
“In parallel, bespoke econometric modelling will be required for more complex sectoral interventions, eg, transport tax changes,” it said.
This research and modelling is to be shared with the Department of An Taoiseach’s Climate and Research Modelling Group, as Ireland bids to reach its climate targets.
The move comes after a great deal of wrangling between the coalition parties over sectoral emissions across the country, particularly in agriculture.
However, the greenhouse gas reduction targets set down by the Government fall short of the 51% cut required by 2030 under the law.
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