Yesterday the @ccacireland.bsky.social and the @centralbankireland.bsky.social launched a joint report on "Funding Climate Adaptation in Ireland". Collaborations such as these help highlight mutual areas of interest in not just identifying barriers but offering potential solutions. Read more below ⬇️

@lwhitmarsh.bsky.social, University of Bath gave a fascinating keynote at the Council’s Behavioural Change and Climate Action event today on the importance of behavioural change in informing climate mitigation and adaptation policy.

Only 14.4% of Ireland's land area and less than 10% of its marine area are under formal protection. This is far short of the target of a minimum of 30% by 2030, set by the global biodiversity framework. shorturl.at/WbGtM

Council continues to be concerned about the limited capacity in @npwsireland.bsky.social and across Government to coordinate and upscale biodiversity conservation and restoration initiatives. This manifests itself in delayed implementation of key policy actions. 📑: shorturl.at/V7fRG

Priority ecosystems continue to be degraded. It is estimated that only 25% of Ireland’s peatlands are healthy enough to provide ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and freshwater filtration and support restoration efforts. Read more📑: shorturl.at/V7fRG

Council welcomes the establishment of the Independent Advisory Committee, leader’s forums, community conversations and working groups to develop the National Restoration Plan. There must be adequate consultation and resourcing to implement this plan. Read more: shorturl.at/yrxmD

Council has published its Annual Review of Biodiversity. It has called out the growing risk to biodiversity and ecosystems from the increased impacts of climate change and warned that Ireland is falling far short of its international conservation commitments. Read more📑: shorturl.at/Lnco9

Council in its Adaptation Review has recommended that Government establish an Extreme Weather Assistance Scheme before the 2025/26 storm season and ensure that it is permanent, appropriately resourced. Read more at shorturl.at/LogZL

Council has recommended that Government provide annual, defined funding to make climate action roles in local authorities and CAROs permanent. This will ensure expertise is retained and climate resilience measures can be delivered. Read more at shorturl.at/LogZL

To ensure improved preparation by local authorities for extreme weather events, the Council has recommended the resourcing of local emergency response hubs and the promotion of individual preparedness measures. Read more at shorturl.at/LogZL

The first Sectoral Adaptation Plans were not specific and measurable, and most did not have KPIs or milestones. There is a critical need for measurable action in the next plans. Read more at shorturl.at/LogZL

Systemic external challenges such as funding and temporary contracts are a critical risk to local authorities delivering their Climate Action Plans. This must be urgently addressed by central Government. Read more about Adaptation in our Annual Review at shorturl.at/LogZL

Storms Darragh and Éowyn, have exposed Ireland’s vulnerability to extreme weather events and shortcomings in preparedness and response, especially in relation to critical infrastructure. Read more in our Review: shorturl.at/LogZL

The Climate Change Adaptation Scorecard helps monitor and review progress towards climate resilience over the last 12 months. Four sectors demonstrated good overall progress, while biodiversity received an overall rating of no progress. Scorecard Report: shorturl.at/s111P

Council has said not enough action has been undertaken to address the significant shortcomings exposed by Storms Darragh and Éowyn and it has called for the prioritisation of actions that will have the most impact in advance of the storm season Read more: shorturl.at/1nqea

To support the decarbonisation of the cement and concrete industries, the Council recommends that the National Standards Authority of Ireland’s Concrete Committee urgently develop new standards and accelerate the approval process for low-carbon cement technologies. Read more: shorturl.at/i54k9

The Council recommends establishing a network of independent energy renovation advisors to provide practical support to households and communities, particularly those in energy poverty. Read our recommendations for this sector: shorturl.at/i54k9

Today the Council has published a request for quotation for research services to explore integrating climate change risks and uncertainty in infrastructure development to ensure a climate resilient Ireland. For more information see: www.climatecouncil.ie/news/researc...

A clear policy and roadmap by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment for the decarbonisation of commercial buildings is urgently required in 2025. Read our recommendations on the Built Environment, Industry and Waste sectors here: shorturl.at/i54k9

Council supports the ramp up of the Solar PV for the Medically Vulnerable Scheme and calls for the installation of suitable batteries, to support the needs of the medically vulnerable, and guidance on changeover switches, to support resilience during extreme weather events. Report: shorturl.at/i54k9

Industrial emissions fell by an estimated 4.6% in 2024, driven partly by reduced cement production and a fall in manufacturing industry output. Cement industry emissions decreased by 15.6% in 2024 because of lower production levels. Read more: shorturl.at/i54k9

The number of BER B2 or Better retrofits achieved under SEAI schemes increased by 24%, from 17,600 in 2023 to 21,817 in 2024. More retrofitting and decarbonised heating systems are needed to help reduce emissions in the Built Environment sector. Report: shorturl.at/i54k9

The residential buildings sector is projected to exceed its 2nd sectoral emissions ceiling by 19.4% while the commercial and public buildings sector is forecast to exceed its 2nd ceiling by 26.8% under 'with additional measures' (WAM) scenario. Read more: shorturl.at/i54k9

Emissions from the residential buildings sector increased by about 4.9% in 2024 compared with 2023, primarily due to colder weather driving an increase in heating demand. Read more about Council’s observations & recommendations for the Built Environment sector in our Review: shorturl.at/i54k9

The Built Environment is the only sector where emissions increased in 2024. Council’s Annual Review of the sector has been published today with key observations and policy recommendations. Read the full report here: tinyurl.com/4dmdtmud

The Built Environment is the only sector where emissions increased in 2024. Council’s Annual Review of the sector has been published today with key observations and policy recommendations. Read the full report here: shorturl.at/i54k9

Council has today published its Annual Review of the Built Environment, Industry and Waste sectors. Urgent action is needed to tackle emissions from the Built Environment sector which rose last year. Read the press release here: shorturl.at/sXGeZ

Afforestation on deep peat leads to significant carbon losses over time and the Council has recommended that the current constraints on afforestation on deep peat remain unchanged and are rigorously enforced. Read more: shorturl.at/AgaIo

The Forestry Programme 2023–2027 has not attracted sufficient uptake by farmers and land owners. The @agriculture_ie needs to strengthen policy levers to increase the level of planting. Read more of the Council's annual review of the LULUCF sector at shorturl.at/i224f

Urgent action is needed to progress the Climate Action Plan 2025 target of an 80–90% replacement of calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) fertiliser by using policy levers like taxation, regulation and incentives to encourage protected urea usage. Read more: shorturl.at/t7w4z

Council has recommended that the Government must urgently publish Phase 2 of the Land Use Review  to inform strategies for land use that support improved socio-economic, climate, biodiversity, and water and air quality outcomes. Read more:  shorturl.at/t7w4z

To reduce agricultural emissions @agriculture_ie should set targets for each year, for the deployment of methane-reducing manure additives and include these in the Climate Action Plan 2026.

The number of suckler cows continued to decrease in 2024 and the dairy cow herd decreased last year for the first time since 2009. Read more about Ireland’s agricultural sector in the Council’s Annual Review: shorturl.at/t7w4z

The LULUCF sector is a net source of emissions accounting for 6.6% of total national emissions in 2023. This is unusual in a European context, where LULUCF typically reports net removals of greenhouse gases. Read more: shorturl.at/t7w4z

Council has written to the Government with a number of recommendations for Budget 2026. Council urged the Government to act upon these recommendations in preparing this year’s budget and in medium term budgetary planning. Read the letter here: shorturl.at/3xjOd

Afforestation rates remain well below the target of 8,000 ha per year. The damage to forests during the winter storms of 2024/25 is likely to result in a significant one-off increase in carbon losses from the sector. Read Council’s full report: shorturl.at/t7w4z

Ireland’s forestry sector will transition from a net sink to a net source of emissions, with projections pointing to a transition from sink to source in 2024. Urgent action must be taken to reverse this trend. Read Council’s full report: shorturl.at/t7w4z

Ireland’s forestry sector has proven vulnerable to extreme winter storms with storms Darragh and Éowyn damaging over 26,000 hectares of forestry. Read Council's Annual Review of the sector here: shorturl.at/t7w4z

Projections for the Agriculture sector suggest emissions would fall by approximately 16% relative to 2018 by 2030 under the With Additional Measures scenario. This is less than what is needed to meet Ireland’s 2030 commitments. Read more: shorturl.at/t7w4z

Council member and Adaptation Committee Chair, Prof. Peter Thorne spoke at the launch of the #Tullamore Decarbonising Zone this week.

Agriculture and Land Use remains the largest source of emissions in Ireland. Emissions from the sector have only decreased by 4.6 % since 2018. Read more about Council’s observations & recommendations for the sector in our Review: shorturl.at/dR9AM

Council has today published its Annual Review of the Agriculture and Land Use Sector. Urgent action is required to incentivise increased afforestation to ensure Ireland’s forestry sector's future as a net sink of greenhouse gas emissions.

Council has called for increased support for local authorities to deliver active travel infrastructure and road space reallocation to further reduce demand on Ireland's transport sector. Read more: tinyurl.com/ypt8ydrw

There should be an urgent revision of the National Ports Policy to ensure that all ports take a harmonised approach to climate risks. Read more in Council’s annual review of the Transport sector: tinyurl.com/ypt8ydrw

Council has recommended action to realise the potential of vehicle-to-everything charging as a means to increase resilience in rural areas during power outages. Read Council's Annual Review of the Transport sector here for more information: tinyurl.com/ypt8ydrw

The finalisation and implementation of a strategy to make the transport system more efficient is urgently required by the Government. Read more in Council's Annual Review of the Transport Sector at tinyurl.com/ypt8ydrw

Statement from the Chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council following the publication of Ireland’s Provisional 2024 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory. Read more here: www.climatecouncil.ie/news/

Chair of the @ccacireland.bsky.social Marie Donnelly has today issued a statement following the publication of the proposed EU 2040 Targets www.climatecouncil.ie/news/

As of the end of 2024, Ireland had 138,118 kW of recharging power with circa 214,000 kW of recharging power needed by the end of 2025 in order to support Climate Action Plan targets and be in line with the EU Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation.

Battery Electric Vehicles increased by 26% in 2024, by an additional 15,000 BEVs. BEVs represented just 3.05% of the total passenger car fleet in 2024.