Cork's first decarbonising zone may speed up delivery of city's light rail system

The decarbonising zone, part of Cork City's climate action plan, stretches from the Tyndall Institute westwards to include the Munster Technological University’s Bishopstown campus

Cork City's first climate action plan hopes to use a €190m investment in the Cork docklands project to create a new liveable and walkable urban centre. Photo: Cork City Council.

A pilot decarbonising zone (DZ) which has been designated in Cork City's first climate action plan (CAP) could help fast-track the delivery of the city’s proposed light rail system.

The news emerged following the adoption of the CAP at February’s meeting of Cork City Council.

While the whole city has been classed as a DZ in the EU Mission Cities project to be climate neutral by 2030, the 5km2 DZ designated in the CAP will be used as a test-bed for advanced and experimental carbon-reducing projects to help accelerate actions in the overall plan, including the light rail system.

The DZ covers about 3% of the city’s area, stretching from the Tyndall Institute westwards to include the Munster Technological University’s Bishopstown campus. It has a population of almost 14,000 — about 11% of the city’s population, and includes three higher education institutions, a business and technology park, a hospital and mixed residential buildings.

The CAP sets out how the council will be responsible for enhancing climate resilience, increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions across its own assets, services and infrastructure, while also ‘influencing’, ‘co-ordinating and facilitating’ and ‘advocating’ for other sectors to meet their own climate targets and ambitions. 

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB

Among its actions are:

• a €1.9bn investment in housing which will see the provision of high-quality homes with a minimum BER rating of A2;
• a €190m investment in the Cork docklands project to create a new liveable and walkable urban centre;
• a €134m investment in walking and cycling facilities including the Marina Promenade upgrade and phase two of Marina Park;
• the establishment of a community leadership programme to help community groups initiate local climate action;
• a €5.5m allocation to start designing and planning the proposed northwest regional park.

Green Party Cllr Oliver Moran said the overall plan sets out an enormous number of actions that will have to be decided by this and future councils if they are to live up the city’s ambitions and address its local, national and global responsibilities.

Party colleague Dan Boyle said when this council began in 2019, the one political agreement the party sought was the declaration of a climate and biodiversity emergency, and to follow that through to a climate action plan. He praised everyone who helped draft the plan.

“The changes that will be made will be difficult changes but we’re talking about a jigsaw,” he said. “We have to put different pieces in place and join them up as we’re going along.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

“And in making these changes, it’s being done not out of a sense of spite but because it’s something that needs to be done because not to do otherwise means we will make things worse.” 

The city emits nearly one million tonnes of CO2 eq. annually with the highest share, 34%, coming from residential properties that use fossil fuels for heating, with road transport contributing 29%, the second highest share.

Lord Mayor, Kieran McCarthy, said Cork is demonstrating its ambition by actively participating in the EU 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission to accelerate the journey to climate neutrality. "This is not the work of the council alone. To succeed we must all work together. Business as usual is no longer enough. Radical collaboration is needed.”