Government Publishes Plan To Cut Emissions By Half Over Next Nine Years

The Government has published the new Climate Action Plan setting out how emissions are to be more than halved by 2030.

The plan sets out a range of targets for sectors of the economy including electricity, transport, agriculture, industry, buildings, and forestry.

They're set in ranges - for example, 22-30% for agriculture, the lowest range of cuts, or 62-81% for the energy sector.

If every Department only hits the bottom end of those ranges, the 2030 targets won't be met.

Over the next few months that will be refined into a more firm target after the budgets have been taken through the Oireachtas.

Cattle on a farm in Leinster, 16-09-2019. Image: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews

The targets include having 80% of Ireland's energy be renewable by the end of the decade, with 5 gigawatts of offshore wind.

Measures in the plan include half a million home retrofits, 680,000 renewable heat upgrades for homes, and changes to rules around building new homes which would mean fossil fuels are essentially banned.

There are targets for 500,000 daily additional public transport or active travel journeys also included.

But the political rows will come thick and fast over the next few months with those sectoral ceilings still up in the air.