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

Chapter 15: Environmental Performance, Policy and Implementation Enforcement of EPA-licensed Industrial and Waste Facilities Most environmental complaints relate to odour and noise. The EPA’s latest industrial and waste licence enforcement report 2018 examines the overall performance of regulated industrial and waste licensed facilities (EPA, 2018). It highlights that, overall, the level of compliance among industrial and waste licensed sites in 2018 was good and that the EPA’s National Priority Sites system is continuing to drive investment and environmental improvements at licensed sites, as discussed in Chapter 10. This is borne out in a 22 per cent reduction in the number of complaints received in 2018, a downwards trend that continued in 2019. Of the 900 environmental complaints received in 2018, the majority (84%) related to odour and noise. Most complaints related to ten facilities in the food and drink and the waste transfer/landfill sectors. The report identified a number of areas for improvement: n The food and drink (agri-food) sector continues to face challenges in maintaining environmental compliance as the industry adapts to increased agricultural production. n Complaints from members of the public remain an issue for the waste sector. At the end of 2019, over 60 EPA-licensed sites were identified as significant pressures to either groundwater or surface water bodies under the Water Framework Directive second-cycle RBMP. Ireland’s Performance on Climate Unlike most European countries, Ireland has not reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Ireland’s climate policy is rapidly evolving. The 2015 Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act created statutory obligations for successive 5-yearly National Mitigation Plans, detailing actions required to achieve Ireland’s greenhouse gas mitigation obligations. Ireland’s first National Mitigation Plan was adopted in 2017 with the aim of closing the gap towards Ireland’s 2020 targets and preparing for the 2030 targets. It contains separate sectoral mitigation measures for the electricity generation, transport, built environment and agriculture sectors. It was, however, criticised for not setting out a sufficiently clear roadmap for how the necessary reductions are to be achieved and was subsequently found by the Supreme Court in July 2020 not to meet the requirements of the 2015 Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act. In 2019 the government published its Climate Action Plan (Government of Ireland, 2019), which is aimed at enabling Ireland to meet its 2030 emissions reduction targets and laying the foundations for achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Further detail on the targets and measures included in the Climate Action Plan is provided in Chapter 2. As part of a commitment to updating the 2015 climate legislation by establishing a 2050 target in law, introducing a new regime for carbon budgets and strengthening the role of the Climate Change Advisory Council, the government also intends to provide a statutory basis for the Climate Action Plan in law and published a Climate Action (Amendment) Bill in October 2020. Alongside these national developments, the EU 2030 Climate and Energy Framework adopted in 2014 commits Member States to preparing 10-year rolling National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs). These provide a new framework within which governments must plan their climate and energy objectives, targets, policies and measures in an integrated manner. The first NECPs for 2021-2030 must ensure that the EU’s 2030 targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions, renewable energy, energy efficiency and electricity interconnection are met. Ireland’s NECP, published in August 2020, incorporates all planned policies and measures that were identified up to the end of 2019 and that collectively will deliver an anticipated 30 per cent reduction by 2030 in non- Emissions Trading System (ETS) greenhouse gas emissions (from 2005 levels). 393