Environmental organisation Friends of the Earth has criticised the Government’s newly approved 2025 Climate Action Plan, claiming it fails to place Ireland on a definitive course to meet its climate commitments, reports RTE.
The group argued that the plan overlooks two critical issues: the rapid growth of data centres and the increasing dependency on fossil fuel infrastructure, especially natural gas.
“It does not take the steps necessary to bring Ireland into line with binding climate limits and appears to allow more polluting infrastructure,” Friends of the Earth climate policy campaigner Seán McLoughlin said, reports RTE.
Nevertheless, Minister for the Environment Darragh O’Brien noted that, a decade after the original Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act, the country is beginning to witness notable reductions in emissions.
“In 2023, emissions reduced by 6.8%. Producing an annual update to the Climate Action Plan allows us to take stock each year to see how we’re doing, reports RTE.
“But climate action is happening up and down the country every day, with retrofitting and more energy efficient homes, thereby reducing energy bills, with more reliable Local Link bus services connecting towns across Ireland, and more home-grown wind power – driving energy security,” Minister O’Brien said, reports RTE.
Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman has voiced concern over the absence of a 2026 Climate Action Plan.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Drivetime, the Dublin West TD pointed out that the 2025 plan notes a 3.5% reduction in emissions during the first half of 2024, which he said reflects the “real momentum built up in 2023”.
“Under the Climate Act, the way Ireland cuts its emissions is done through carbon budgets, these are five-year cycles where we set out how much we want to cut in transport or energy or in agriculture,” he said, reports RTE.
“2026 is really important, it’s the start of the second carbon budget cycle and that is where the really big decisions have to be made,” reports RTE.
Mr O’Gorman added: “We know we’re not on track for 2030 right now, and the big changes, the big asks of various sectors will have to be set out in the 2026 Climate Action Plan, and there’s no reference to that in what was published today,” reports RTE.
He stressed that a major increase in ambition is needed for 2026 and that the Government will have to make tough decisions to meet its 2030 goals.
“Difficult decisions in terms of where we allocate the climate in nature funds, the €3.15 billion funds that the Greens got put aside.
“Do we put it to support rewetting of bogs? Do we put it to a fund to support farmers in terms of eco environment measures they take? Do we put it in public buildings, so we can reduce the emissions from schools and hospitals?” reports RTE.
“We need to give that clear signal, whether it’s to agriculture, whether it’s to small businesses, that the State is there to step up behind them and support them in the changes that we need them to make,” Mr O’Gorman said, reports RTE.
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