The pace of reduction of emissions from energy is not sufficient to meet Ireland's national climate obligations, a new report from the Sustainable Energy Authority (SEAI) has found.
That is despite energy related emissions falling 1.7% to their lowest level in the last quarter century last year, except for 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic had a particular impact on output.
The SEAI’s Energy in Ireland report, which profiles trends in the supply and demand of energy and energy related CO2 emissions in 2022 and 2023, shows that the fall in energy emissions came despite total demand for energy rising 4.7% last year, compared to 2021.
The report also details how Ireland imported 81.6% of its energy last year, while 85.8% of its energy was derived from fossil fuels.
It also finds that during the first nine months of this year, Ireland imported over 9% of its electricity, which had the effect of significantly reducing the country’s electricity emissions during that time.
As a result, SEAI estimates that electricity related emissions could be down by as much as 25% on 2022, although this is unlikely to continue as the EU/UK carbon price differential driving these electricity imports disappears as markets rebalance.
"Despite the excellent progress made on renewable electricity, the momentum of our home energy upgrades, and the uptake of electric vehicles, Ireland remains highly dependent on imported fossil fuels to satisfy our energy needs," said Director of Research and Policy Insights with SEAI, Margie McCarthy.
"Our investments in energy efficiency and our development of indigenous renewable energy sources are slowly starting to break that dependency.
"However, it is all too slow. Unless we accelerate, the pace of change will not be enough for us to achieve our national and EU obligations."
The report also shows that last year transport energy demand recovered to 95% of pre-Covid levels.
So far this year, according to the SEAI, that demand for petrol, diesel and jet kerosene has been maintained.
As a result, the SEAI thinks transport emissions this year will likely be higher than last year, running contrary to Ireland’s obligations under its legally binding carbon budgets.
Inefficient use of energy
Separately, another SEAI report examining behavioural energy and travel has found there are a range of areas in which people are using energy inefficiently.
These include one in five people saying they travelled by car for short journeys on certain days, while a similar proportion use a tumble drier.
Two out of every five respondents said they heat empty rooms or unoccupied homes.
Despite this, the report found in general people have a high understanding of how to save energy and claim they are making a substantial effort to use energy efficiently.
"Around 45% of Ireland’s energy use is for direct personal consumption, primarily in our homes and in our cars," Ms McCarthy said.
"So, it is absolutely essential that we all become more energy efficient to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions; to insulate ourselves from high energy prices; and to reduce the chance of outages or fuel shortages."
