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Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change
27
The EU 2020 target of 10% by
2020 remains unchanged. Biofuels
in transport have increased from
0.03% in 2005 to 2.4% in 2010
in energy terms.
Carbon Tax
A carbon tax of €15 per tonne of
CO
2
emitted was announced in the
2010 Budget. The tax was applied
to petrol and diesel with immediate
effect from December 2009 and to
non-transport fuels (i.e. kerosene,
marked gas oil, liquid petroleum
gas, fuel oil, natural gas and non-
domestic coal) from May 2010. The
tax was increased in Budget 2012
to €20 per tonne CO
2
for transport
fuels (in Budget 2012) and for the
other liquid and gaseous fuels from
May 2012. The application of the
tax to domestic solid fuels and to
commercial peat will be subject to
the provision of a mechanism to
counter the sourcing of coal and
peat from Northern Ireland.
Land Use and Forestry
The Kyoto Protocol (Article 3,
paragraph 3) covers direct, human-
induced, afforestation, reforestation
and deforestation activities (ARD).
Accounting of these activities is
mandatory and Ireland must report
on and account for emissions and
removals for the commitment period
(2008–2012) on lands on which
these activities occur.
Reporting and accounting of these
ARD activities contributes to Ireland
meeting its commitments under
the Kyoto Protocol. Reported net
removals for the first three years
of the commitment period (2008–
2010) amounted to 8.5 Mt of CO
2
equivalents (CO
2
eq).
The Kyoto Protocol also includes
forest land management, cropland
management, grazing land
management and revegetation
activities. Accounting of these
activities for the first commitment
period is optional and Ireland has
not elected to report or account
them. Research in Ireland, Europe
and elsewhere, has increased
the understanding of the extent
and nature of carbon removals
associated with different land uses
and particularly the uptake of carbon
in soil, where it can remain for long
periods of time. This research shows
that Irish grazing land could remove
a significant amount of carbon from
the atmosphere. However, carbon is
emitted or lost from other land uses
such as cropland and the drainage
and use of peatland. Options to
enhance current removals and
reduce or eliminate carbon loss from
soils are being explored. However,
accurate determination of these
Table 2.1
Renewable Energy: Progress to Targets (% of each target) (Source: SEAI, 2011)
Year
1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2010
Target
2020
Target
RES-E
(normalised)
5.3 4.6 4.8 7.2 8.7 9.9 11.1 13.7 14.8
15
40
RES-T
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.5 1.2 1.8 2.4
3
10
RES-H
2.6 2.1 2.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.6 4.3 4.4
5
12
Directive
2009/29/EC
2.3 1.9 1.9 2.8 3.1 3.5 4.0 5.0 5.5
–
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