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

Chapter 2: Climate Change 4. Key Greenhouse Gas Trends for Ireland Tracking greenhouse gas emissions, and projecting future trends, provides the evidence base to inform required emissions reductions and build a low-carbon and resilient society and economy. The EPA is responsible for compiling inventories and projections of GHG emissions for Ireland and for reporting the data to the EU and UN. The inventories and projections are subject to EU and UN expert review to ensure transparency, accuracy, completeness, consistency and comparability with those of other Parties. National Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trends Ireland’s GHG emissions increased by 10.1 per cent from 1990 to 2019. The latest projections show that full implementation of additional policies and measures, outlined in the 2019 Climate Action Plan, will result in a reduction in Ireland’s total GHG emissions by up to 25 per cent by 2030 compared with 2020 levels. In 2019, Ireland’s GHG emissions were 59.9 Mt CO 2 eq; this is an increase of 10.1 per cent since 1990, when emissions were 54.4 Mt CO 2 eq. The trend in GHG emissions from 1990 to 2019 is shown in Figure 2.2. Agriculture is the single largest contributor to the overall emissions, at 35.3 per cent. Transport, Energy Industries and the Residential sector are the next largest contributors, at 20.3 per cent, 15.8 per cent and 10.9 per cent, respectively (Figure 2.3). Figure 2.2  Trends in GHG emissions from 1990 to 2019 (Source: EPA, 2020b) Energy Industries Residential Manufacturing Combustion Commercial Services Public Services Transport Industrial Processes Agriculture Waste F-gases 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 2,069 kt CO 2 equivalent 43