A new report from the Central Statistics Office has found the "intensity" of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the economy here has fallen by up to 60% over the decade from 2012-2021.
The report also finds that the intensity of emissions from Ireland's agricultural sector is the second highest in the EU.
The intensity of emissions is a measure of how much GHG is produced in the economy expressed as a percentage of the size of the economy.
The fall in Ireland’s emissions intensity is largely due to the strong growth rate in the economy.
The report finds that Ireland's economy, measured by Gross Value Added (GVA), grew by 153% from 2012-2021. This compares to the EU average of 27%.
Over that period Ireland's GHG emissions grew by 1% while GHG emissions across the EU fell by 15%.
The report goes on to break down emissions intensities across different sectors of the economy, but it does not examine households.
It finds that emissions from Ireland's agricultural sector are the second most intense in the EU. This, it finds, is due to the size of the cattle herd.
In 2021 Ireland has the third largest cattle herd in the EU at 6.65 million. France had the largest at 17.33 million followed by Germany at 11.04 million.
Ireland's agricultural emissions comprise 6% CO2, 29% nitrogen and 65% methane.
The country's manufacturing sector had the lowest GHG emissions intensity in the EU, but the CSO said this was, in part, because of the "highly globalised" nature of industry located here.
