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

Ireland’s Environment – An Integrated Assessment 2020 Energy Transformation has Multiple Benefits for Health, Wellbeing and the Environment The required transformation will require significant investments from public and private sector stakeholders. There will be significant medium and longer- term economic benefits and savings, including reduced dependency on imported fossil energy, energy security and energy resilience. Reduced emissions will directly and indirectly benefit human health and ecosystems. Planning for Large-Scale Carbon Dioxide Removal (Negative Emissions) Cumulative carbon dioxide emissions will determine the global temperature increase. Large-scale removals of atmospheric carbon dioxide are likely to be required. These will limit warming to well below 2°C or limit the increase to 1.5°C, and offset GHG emissions that cannot be reduced to zero (i.e. those from food production). Removals by sinks such as forests are not likely to be sufficient to offset these emissions. The future energy systems will be central to the delivery of required large- scale negative carbon dioxide emissions (e.g. through BECCS or direct air capture). 322