Ireland, along with most other countries, has ambitious carbon emissions targets for its transport sector: cutting them in half by 2030.
While there’s plenty of “whataboutery” when it comes to these emissions, transport in all its forms still accounts for almost 40 per cent of total emissions, according to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).
Cutting transport emissions in half, while hardly easy, seems on paper to be not all that hard. A few electric cars here, some sustainable aviation fuel there, and suddenly we’re making some cuts. However, according to Social Justice Ireland, the Government’s overall climate action plan, if fully implemented, would only see transport emissions fall by round 26 per cent – half of what’s called for in the official targets and perhaps even less again than what’s truly needed.
A recent slump in sales of new electric cars has probably put the target of having almost a million electric vehicles (EVs) on Irish roads by 2030 out of reach, even assuming things changed fast and every new car sold in the State between now and 2030 was electric – which, given the current apathy Irish consumers are showing for electric cars, seems wildly unlikely.
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It’s possibly unfair that the pressure to solve the climate crisis is being heaped on to the individual – responding to climate change is, after all, the ultimate collective action challenge – but it is, or at least should be, relatively easy to trigger that change where transport and motoring are concerned and thus have a significant overall effect on total emissions.
Darren Kinsella, head of business development for new energy landscapes at Schneider Electric, told The Irish Times: “Only by addressing this challenge can we create an environment to reduce emissions and meet the country’s net zero targets. We need to migrate transport quickly away from fossil fuels to greener energy sources. EVs will play a significant role in this transition but work needs to be done to ensure the infrastructure is in place to power EV charging points and device locations.”
All the equipment and technology required to support this transition already exists in parts of Ireland, said Kinsella.
“It’s just a matter of connecting the dots to create a more robust and energy-efficient network of microgrids that can support EV charging,” he added. “Smart digital monitoring tools also provide energy companies and EV charging operators with the ability to divert energy to support peak and offpeak usage, which is more sustainable, and guarantees access to electricity when people need it the most.
“For example, an office car park equipped with chargers could use solar power to charge EVs during the day or wind energy could be used to charge EVs parked at home overnight. Bi-directional charging can also be brought into the equation to leverage the power stored in EV batteries via vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-to-building transfer models.”
[ Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 reach lowest level in three decadesOpens in new window ]
However, even if we do all that, and convert everyone – or as many people as possible – to electric driving, it still won’t be enough. Brian Caulfield heads the Centre for Transport Research at Trinity College Dublin and he told The Irish Times: “The latest projections from the EPA show that even with additional measures above and beyond what is in the climate action plan we might hit a 25 per cent reduction by 2030.
“While this would be a substantial improvement from our current situation, I would have extreme reservations as to whether we would even be able to deliver the additional measures to realise this scaled-back ambition.
“The fundamental thing that needs to happen in this sector is that we build more public transport options as quickly as possible. Over the past decade the urgency that is required by declaring a climate emergency has not been seen in the construction of major infrastructure projects like Metrolink and light rail and Dublin and in other cities.
“Failing once again to deliver large public transport projects by the midpoint of the next decade will put us on a very poor trajectory to reach future climate commitments towards 2050.
“The technologies that will help us decarbonise the transport sector are already in place – they are buses, bikes, trams and trains. We know what we need to do. We really don’t need any more expensive reports or strategies – we just need to get on and do it.”
Whatever we do, tackling the overshoot on transport carbon emissions is something that will take time, effort, and leadership.
“The transport sector will be the slowest to decarbonise,” said Prof Caulfield. “While other sectors have seen notable reductions, the transport sector is still reporting increases in emissions. However, in recent years these increases have started to slow and reduce. This is not something that’s unique to Ireland; it is an issue that has been seen in many other countries around the world.”
The trick, said Prof Caulfield, is that hand-wringing over the latest figures or, worse, using them as an excuse to dilute or change the plans, will do us no good.
“The issue is with the transport sector, compared to perhaps some of the other sectors, is that it does require people to make individual changes,” he added. “However, it is not good enough just to place the onus upon individuals to change when viable alternatives are not available. It is also important that the transition happens in a just and equitable way and that access to alternatives should be equal across the country.”
Clearly, as an island nation, we also need to consider the climate impacts of our aviation and shipping sectors, carefully balancing the economic and communications requirements with those of emissions reductions. However, in many ways, those reductions are beyond Ireland’s purview, and will have to be tackled in a more global sense.
But when it comes to road transport we can make big inroads – and quickly – only if sufficient will to tackle the issues can be deployed.
