Dublin's Clean Energy Perspective

By Cash Martin

Crossing the Irish Sea and shifting nations reveals a stark contrast in clean energy initiatives. After examining London and Edinburgh—two key players in the UK’s energy transition—Dublin offers a distinct perspective, one that is neither inherently better nor worse, but simply different.

An examination of the city reveals occasional erraticism and disorganization in quantifying achievements, setbacks, and goals. However, fully understanding Dublin’s context is essential for an accurate assessment. As disclosed in this infographic [see below] by the Environmental Protection Agency, Dublin only began seeing decreases in emissions within their largest sectors in the early 2000s. Come 2018, a bit of a parabola forms on their graph, with trends curving back up into emission increases in all but one major sector: energy industries.?

The all-encompassing standpoints

Significant work has been required for years, but past inaction has burdened the current government. Nevertheless, Dublin is steadily regaining stability in its committed, if more modest, pursuit of net zero. Their original written plan, which bears the slightly outdated title of Climate Neutral Dublin 2030 (considering they have now delayed their target date), devises how “Dublin City Council can promote a range of mitigation, adaptation, and other climate action measures, to help deliver…the Government’s overall National Climate Objective…by no later than the end of 2050.”

Just like Edinburgh, Dublin references the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and their 1.5?C theory on the climate crisis to maintain steady in their path to net zero. So far, each European city has mentioned it as their utmost motivator to convert to clean energy and eradicate domestic carbon emissions—a declaration I find American cities seldom assert in official documents.

As the introduction progresses, The City of Dublin announces three central targets:

• “A climate-resilient city prepared for the known and unknown impacts of climate change.”
• “A just transition meaning that the actions we take do not cause harm.”
• “A 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in line with our National Climate Objective by 2030, while striving for neutrality before 2050 as per Dublin City’s participation in the EU Mission for 100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities (Net Zero Cities).”

The unfortunate truth of interim targets

According to the EPA, Dublin is not on track to reach this 51% reduction (using 2018 as a benchmark year) greenhouse gas emissions goal. After all, total national greenhouse gas emissions had only decreased by 0.1% that year, meaning a major—or dare I say unrealistic—overhaul would be needed to adequately shift the trend to an eventual 51% decrease. It is most certainly an uphill battle from here, but by postponing their wildly ambitious net-zero goal of 2030 to an easily negotiable 2050, they gain the gift of time—where they may play the long game instead of frantically chasing interim targets.

Picking up the pace

With that said, recent data depicts pivotal progress in certain sectors. In 2023, Ireland achieved its lowest greenhouse gas emissions in three decades, with a 6.8% reduction (4.0 Mt CO2eq) compared to the previous year. Key contributors included a 21.6% drop in power generation emissions, with residential emissions also falling to their lowest levels in three decades—marking a 7.1% reduction. Considering about one fifth of the country’s overall residential energy consumption comes exclusively from Dublin, it’s safe to say that this metropolitan area is making strides.

After only showing promising results in reducing carbon emissions within the power generation and energy distribution sectors for many years, it is refreshing to see major work done in other industries—now adding agriculture to the list, which was a major struggle for several years.

What is leading them to falling short of their unique EU-assigned goal?

Sadly, these gains did not come without caveats. Transportation (the word we have all come to dread) emissions rose marginally, and the EPA’s analysis indicates that Ireland is set to exceed its carbon budgets for 2021-2030 by anywhere between 17-27%. These shortfalls are just a couple of the many lingering issues that inhibit their eligibility for the EU Effort Sharing Regulation’s target (a 42% reduction by 2030 from 2005 levels)—which, unfortunately, Ireland is also unlikely to meet.

One of Dublin’s primary challenges is that they are constantly needing to adjust to a volatile climate, extreme weather conditions, and abrupt natural phenomena due to their coastal placement—not to mention being centered on the receiving end of the Gulf Stream. By announcing protocol to prepare residents and infrastructure for the unrelenting effects of climate change—be it flood, rising sea levels, or drought—the Climate Neutral Dublin 2030 ensures that “actions that will be taken by the City Council to prepare [the] city” for inevitable disaster. On another hand, though, many critics scrutinize their hazy language in this section, claiming that their concept of “improving resilience” is too ambiguous to have a precise preventative plan.

Ireland needs some patience, as results have only just been yielded.

Dublin is making progress, but they are currently falling short of their clean energy goals on multiple fronts. Their work is diligent, and the numbers are surely improving, but it seems they lack a clear vision of what a carbon-neutral Dublin might look like—which is probably a partial culprit for their missed emissions reduction benchmarks. In creating the EU Effort Sharing Regulation of 2021-2030, they account for the “different capacities of Member States” and “differentiate targets according to GDP,” so why is their 42% reduction so unattainable?

The heroic part of Ireland’s path to net zero, though, is that despite taking a while to turn a “climate profit”—so to speak—they are still putting in the effort to get there, and now they have finally done it effectively. Dublin will not outpace their 51% reduction goal—nor will they meet the 42% reduction goal issued by the EU—but they are finally making visible changes, and at this moment, that’s the best we can ask for. Realistically, Ireland will never be at the UK’s level with clean energy—but they are finally reaping the positive benefits of many years of (rather non-preemptive) work, and that deserves applause.