EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Chapter 1: Introduction Figure 1.1  Ireland in the pandemic – environmental indicators (Source: O’Leary, et al. , 2020, with updates on overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from EPA) GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, AIR POLLUTION AND NOISE PETROL CONSUMPTION DOWN ALMOST 50% DIESEL CONSUMPTION DOWN ALMOST 35% ELECTRICITY USAGE DOWN BY 6% ELECTRICITY GHG EMISSIONS DOWN BY 7% NATURAL GAS GHG EMISSIONS DOWN BY 6% IRELAND’S OVERALL GHG EMISSIONS DOWN BY 8-10%* DOMESTIC HEATING OIL PURCHASES DOUBLED TRAFFIC VOLUMES DOWN 68% NOISE LEVELS DOWN ENVIRONMENTAL NOISE & ODOUR COMPLAINTS UP AIR POLLUTION FROM TRAFFIC Ireland March to May 2020, compared to the same period in 2019 INTERNATIONAL ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES APRIL DOWN 99% MAY DOWN 98 % NO 2 39% DROP 30% DROP PM 2.5 30% DROP 9% DROP IMPORTS DOWN 21% WASTE AND RESOURCE USE NATURE AND PEOPLE DOMESTIC BROWN BINS UP 32% TIME OUTSIDE MORE PEOPLE SPENDING 93% OF PEOPLE WALKING DOMESTIC SKIP USE UP OVERALL RETAIL SALES DOWN 32% GLASS BOTTLE INTAKE UP 46% ENGAGEMENT WITH LOCAL WILDLIFE MORE PEOPLE ENGAGING WITH LOCAL WILDLIFE RECORDS UP 70% COMMERCIAL WASTE DOWN 54% CONSTRUCTIONWASTE DOWN 65% HEALTHCARE RISKWASTE FROM HSE HOSPITALS UP 24% FOOD RETAIL SALES UP HOUSEHOLDWASTE UP 21% OVERALL POLLINATORS REDUCED MANAGEMENT OF GREEN SPACES ALLOWING WILD FLOWERS TO BLOOM, GREAT FOR POLLINATORS DOMESTICWATER USE UP 20% WATER USE DOWN BREAK RECORDS, 15.5% OF TOTAL RETAIL! APRIL 2020 APRIL 2020 APRIL 2020 APRIL 2020 MAY 2020 ILLEGAL DUMPING ANECDOTALLY UP RELATED COMPLAINTS UP *Ongoing work, subject to revision It is imperative as we emerge from the pandemic crisis and look to stimulate economic recovery that we do so through a ‘green investment’ lens and so avoid recovery- and growth-promoting technical and infrastructural spending that locks us into carbon-intensive and otherwise unsustainable consumption and production behaviours and technologies. A clean environment, including one in which radiological risks from natural (e.g. radon) and technological (e.g. electromagnetic fields) sources are managed, provides the opportunity to deliver health and economic dividends that will assist resilience and support recovery. We have an opportunity in this ‘reset’ of our economy to pivot away from unsustainable practices and deliver lasting changes that support the climate-neutral transition, as well as other environmental ambitions. This is also known as ‘building back better’ (OECD, 2020). International research by Bhattacharya et al. (2020) for the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action, the OECD (2020) and Hepburn et al. (2020) suggests that green recovery packages have many benefits over non- environmentally friendly recovery packages. First, they are an effective mechanism to advance a climate-neutral society and economy; and, second, they have positive wellbeing and economic returns in both the immediate and the future horizons. Hepburn et al. (2020) examined a variety of possible policy options and surveyed over 200 central bank officials, finance ministry officials and other economic experts from G20 countries to investigate the optimal green recovery pathway. From this they identified five key policy areas that have the highest potential for creating positive economic multipliers and positive low- carbon and resilience impacts, namely: 1. clean physical infrastructure investment in the form of renewable energy assets, storage (including hydrogen), grid modernisation and carbon capture and storage technology 2. building efficiency retrofits 3. investment in education and training to address immediate unemployment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and to address structural shifts from decarbonisation 25