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

Ireland’s Environment – An Integrated Assessment 2020 Chapter Highlights for Climate Change Ireland’s climate is changing. Mitigation and adaptation action that is planned, coordinated and prioritised is required to build the resilience of society and the economy in the face of current and projected climate change impacts. The next decade needs to be one of major developments and advances in relation to Ireland’s response to climate change. We need to start implementing ambitious policies now. Full and early implementation of ambitious policies and measures can deliver Ireland’s current and future commitments to a climate-neutral economy and climate-resilient society by 2050. The scale and pace of greenhouse gas emissions reductions must accelerate. Reducing emissions requires far-reaching transformative change across the whole economy, including in agriculture, energy, transport, waste, land use, food, buildings and industry. Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions profile – with over one-third of emissions coming from agriculture and a high dependency on fossil fuels – is particularly challenging. Ireland must also maximise the use of land as carbon stores, for example through grasslands, wetlands and forestry, to meet targets. 58