Boosting EV ownership the easiest option in the Government's charge on climate change

Transport accounts for 19% of Ireland’s carbon emissions. Wouldn’t it be simpler to buy an electric car than convince a farmer to cull his herd or persuade holidaymakers to take fewer flights

EV sales have actually declined year-on-year in four of the last seven months — most worryingly in February when EV sales declined 15% despite the overall market growing by 25%.

Regardless of the news item discussing how to tackle climate change, chances are it will focus on aviation or agriculture. Whether it’s capping flights at Dublin airport or culling the national herd, heated debate is sure to follow.

You could be forgiven if you were unaware of the fact that transport accounts for approximately 19% of Ireland’s carbon emissions. More importantly, Environment Minister Eamon Ryan has described fleet electrification in transport as the single biggest policy lever within the Climate Action Plan, with ambitious plans by the Government to reduce the sector’s emissions by 50% by 2030.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s latest Greenhouse Gas Emissions report, however, revealed that transport was the only sector where emissions rose in 2022, despite increasing sales of Electric Vehicles (EV). Passenger cars were responsible for 53% of emissions in 2021 — more than heavy goods vehicles, light goods vehicles and buses combined.

So why aren’t we talking about cars instead of planes and cows?

With transport emissions headed in the wrong direction, surely this should be a cause for serious concern. Yet for all the debate about the steps required to tackle climate change by various sections of the Irish economy and society, transport does not seem to get people’s engines revving.

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To deliver and get people to accept the widespread change required across Irish society, it’s not enough to simply talk about it, certain groups will need to step up first and show leadership to inspire and educate others to follow them.

Not only is fleet electrification the single biggest policy lever within the Climate Action Plan, it also has the potential to be the simplest, particularly when compared to alternative climate targets the Government is trying to achieve.

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On some of the measures available to deliver on climate targets as part of the National Development Plan, the Economic and Social Research Institute’s Professor Alan Barrett recently pointed out that the roll-out of EVs is a far more practical task compared to retrofitting 500,000 homes given the amount of specialised talent required to deliver this isn’t immediately available to the construction industry.

While there are repeated public statements by the Government about its ambition to have 945,000 zero-emission vehicles on Irish roads by 2030, all this talk is mostly hot air.

Scratch beneath the surface and the monthly level of EV sales in Ireland is only a fraction of what it needs to be. For the 945,000 EV target to be achieved by 2030, the entire market would need to switch to electric overnight today. 

The Department of Transport’s internal projections are that there will be only 416,000 EVs on the road by that deadline — less than half of a figure that continues to be publicly trotted out by the Government. Most worrying of all, however, is that sales of electric vehicles in Ireland are now in decline.

If the correct incentives were in place, there is no reason why Ireland could not replicate the success of Norway where EVs have over 80% market share.

Passenger cars were responsible for 53% of emissions in 2021 — more than heavy goods vehicles, light goods vehicles and buses combined. File picture: Larry Cummins

Not only would achieving this make serious progress in tackling its transport emissions, but it would also make it far easier to bring other groups on a journey with the Government in terms of delivering the change required. Right now, farmers feel frustrated as they are the public face of climate change.

Ensuring that the responsibility is spread more equally would make conversations with all stakeholders involved more constructive.

When it comes to Government policy concerning EVs, however, it appears to be more a case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’. One would think that it would be far simpler to buy an electric car than convince a farmer to cull his herd or persuade holidaymakers to take fewer flights.

Yet only 4.34% of all State-owned vehicles (552 out of a total of 12,728) were electric at the end of 2023, with slow progress being made as evidenced by the fact that this figure stood at 2.6% at the end of 2022, 1.7% in 2021 and 1.1% in 20209. 

To put it starkly, State bodies only purchased 229 EVs last year — 1% of the total number of zero-emission vehicles purchased by the general public.

This data underscores an alarming lack of investment in the transition to zero-emission vehicles by the Government and public sector organisations. Instead of being the early adopter and encouraging others to follow its example, the Government appears happy to let the public set the pace on EV adoption.

How can the farming community be convinced to follow through with the changes required for the agricultural sector, when something so simple as buying an EV seems impossible for the public sector to do?

Having reduced the level of grants available towards the purchase of an EV, with prices clearly proving prohibitive to many even at the previous level, EV sales have actually declined year-on-year in four of the last seven months — most worryingly in February when EV sales declined 15% despite the overall market growing by 25%. In light of the latest public sector EV ownership figures, this puts the rate of EV adoption on even shakier foundations in Ireland.

Not only is fleet electrification the single biggest policy lever within the Climate Action Plan, it also has the potential to be the simplest, particularly when compared to alternative climate targets the Government is trying to achieve.

Instead of reducing EV grants, the Government should increase them, particularly with specific measures to take the highest polluting cars off the road. It means incentivising certain groups like public sector organisations and targeted support for households that simply cannot afford to make the switch. 

None of this should be a surprise, given the report prepared by the Parliamentary Budget Office in 2022 that noted the fall in sales in Denmark when financial supports were withdrawn in that market.

The EPA's recently published Climate Change Assessment Report underscores the need for Ireland to pick up the pace of action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also highlights the State in terms of the crucial role it has to play in delivering on the changes required to mitigate against ongoing and future climate change impacts. If fleet electrification is the most effective lever in our arsenal, the Government does not appear to be pulling on it hard enough.

• David Savage is vice president for Ireland and UK at Geotab, a car fleet tech management firm Geotab.