Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

455 Chapter 16: Environmental Policy Implementation and Performance INDICATOR CURRENT ASSESSMENT OUTLOOK NOTES CLIMATE Climate adaptation A new National Adaptation Framework is in place and updated Sectoral Adaptation Plans are due to be produced by 2025. Local Authority Climate Action Plans have also been adopted by all local authorities. While adaptation governance structures, climate services and risk assessment capacity have been strengthened, there remains a need for a technical resilience target to support the national climate objective, and the new plans must contain clearly defined actions to achieve climate resilience accompanied by comprehensive outcome indicators. Overall climate assessment While there has been progress in terms of beginning to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and in strengthening adaptation governance structures and support services, overall current assessment for climate is ‘poor’ (a slight improvement from ‘very poor’ in 2020). Full implementation of actions set out in the Climate Action Plan and additional actions are needed if Ireland is to meet its 2030 and 2050 climate targets. POLICY AREA CURRENT ASSESSMENT OUTLOOK NOTES AIR Air quality PM 2.5 (fine particulate matter) Compliant in 2023 with EU limits for PM 2.5 , but most monitoring stations are above the WHO guideline levels. Increased monitoring and modelling has highlighted high levels of PM 2.5 in many Irish cities, towns and villages. Particulate matter is estimated to cause 1600 premature deaths per year: the dominant source is the burning of solid fuel. Achieving Ireland’s ambition to move towards the WHO guideline levels for PM 2.5 , while challenging, will have a significant and positive impact on health. Nitrogen oxides EU air quality limit values for nitrogen dioxide were exceeded at one station in Dublin in 2019 (EPA, 2020) and have not been exceeded since. Complying with the limit values outlined in the Clean Air Strategy and the proposed EU Air Quality Directive will be challenging. Climate action measures will have co-benefits for air quality and health. Ozone (ground level) Ireland complied with EU legal values in 2023; however, ozone levels at 18 of 23 stations monitored were above WHO air quality guideline levels, pointing to future challenges in meeting tighter limit values. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons In 2023, no exceedances were recorded, and all stations monitored complied with EU legal values. However, three of four stations were above the EEA reference levels. Burning less and cleaner solid fuels will have benefits for air quality and health.