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

Ireland’s Environment – An Integrated Assessment 2020 In addition to the NPF, the regional assemblies have recently adopted regional spatial and economic strategies, which have included the first metropolitan area strategic plans for the major cities. The National Transport Authority has also begun the process of preparing metropolitan area transport strategies, in conjunction with the local authorities. Furthermore, under Action 65 of the Climate Action Plan, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will prepare a climate action toolkit and audit framework, for local authority development planning. Local authority spatial plans must be reviewed to take on board the new national and regional policies, and will be subject to oversight by the Office of the Planning Regulator. Taking account of these advances, substantial institutional change has taken place, which is highly relevant to enhancing the scope for a strategic approach to integrated spatial and transport planning for sustainable mobility. In parallel, the crucial top-down role of investment in driving change is widely recognised. Modifications to planning density can come at little or no capital cost, requiring local development plans to come into alignment. However, in some cases they may entail capital costs of redevelopment of existing settlement in strategic locations – effectively a housing cost. Infrastructure for modal shift entails capital costs that must be considered. This requires the identification of funding streams to support new infrastructure development and deliver the many synergies and benefits it offers. Opportunities to provide funding have been considered by the National Economic and Social Council (NESC, 2019). 5. Conclusions Environmental Pressures and Transport Transport is a leading source of environmental pressures in Ireland, including greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution and noise emissions. While some air pollutants can be effectively reduced by technological means, international evidence has clearly shown that greenhouse gas emissions are a growing problem. The analysis of historic driving forces suggests that the push of increased economic activity and population growth has coincided with public policy and private market factors that have often favoured more dispersed settlement patterns, road development and the private car. Transport greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland need to be eliminated by 2050, and yet the trends are not responding in the right direction. On its current pathway, the transport sector will not deliver these reductions. Changing to a pathway to address these challenges will require fundamental transition and significant policy change (CCAC, 2019a). Sustainable Mobility Transformation To make Ireland ‘a leader in responding to climate disruption’, as per the Climate Action Plan (Government of Ireland, 2019, p. 37), a fundamental change in Irish transport policy is required. This needs to be aimed at delivering long-term avoid and shift, followed by improve. Measures that reduce greenhouse gases can also deliver co-benefits of reduced air pollution and noise emissions and improve wellbeing and the economy by tackling growing traffic congestion. Addressing the challenge with the urgency implied by ‘early action’ will offer the ability not just to reduce environmental pressures, but to improve health outcomes and to counter the higher economic costs of locked-in pathways. A sustainable mobility transformation offers numerous benefits for wellbeing, for society and for the economy. 296