Ireland saw its overall greenhouse gas emissions fall by 2.2 per cent during the first three months of 2024 in comparison to the same period last year, according to a report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
As per the EPA’s quarterly emission data, the largest sectoral decrease was observed in the Electricity generation sector, which dropped by 16.7 per cent.
Sectors such as Industry and Agriculture also witnessed significant decrease in emissions in the first quarter with drops of 4.7 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively.
Meanwhile, Buildings sector recorded the largest increase in emissions with a rise of 6.1 per cent for residential and a rise of 4.1 per cent for commercial and public buildings.
Transport sector also saw an increase of 2.7 per cent in emissions in the first quarter of 2024, which was driven by increased sales of petrol and diesel, as the sector continues to rebound to pre-Covid emission levels.
The quarterly findings come months after the EPA announced in July that the country’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 6.8 per cent last year to the lowest level for three decades.
“The reduction of 2.2% in Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions in the first quarter of 2024, when compared with the same period last year, is welcome following the largest annual reduction in emissions outside of recession reported in 2023,” Director of the EPA’s Office of Evidence and Assessment, Dr Eimear Cotter, was quoted as saying by RTE.
“This shows that we can make progress in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions when concerted action is taken,” Dr Cotter added.
