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Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 December 2021

Tuesday, 14 December 2021

Questions (130, 131, 132)

Darren O'Rourke

Question:

130. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the expected emissions reductions by 2030 from the Government’s plan to deliver the equivalent of 500,000 homes retrofitted to a BER of B2 cost optimal or carbon equivalent and to install 600,000 heat pumps in residential buildings in tabular form. [61523/21]

View answer

Darren O'Rourke

Question:

131. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the expected emissions reduction from the National Retrofit Plan by 2030. [61524/21]

View answer

Darren O'Rourke

Question:

132. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the expected emissions reduction from the National Retrofit Plan and the annual breakdown in tabular form. [61525/21]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 130 to 132, inclusive, together.

The 2021 Climate Action Plan (CAP 2021) committed to reducing emissions from the residential and commercial buildings sectors to between 3.5 - 4.5 Mt CO2eq. by 2030, from 7.9 Mt in 2018. CAP 2021 did not, however, include either cumulative or annual emissions savings on the specific contribution of the Plan’s retrofit or heat pump deployment targets.

CAP 2021 also set out an ambitious National Retrofit Plan detailing how the targets to retrofit 500,000 dwellings and to deploy 600,000 heat pump installations would be met. CAP 2021 also included the following key commitments for the residential and commercial buildings sectors:

- Strengthening the existing NZEB requirements for new dwellings to effectively ban fossil fuels in new dwellings;

- Ramp-up of zero emissions heat in commercial buildings; and

- Increased targets for the roll-out of district heating.

Aside from reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, residential retrofit brings additional benefits, including reduced energy costs, improved comfort and health, less dependency on fossil fuels, and improvements in indoor and outdoor air quality.

The National Retrofit Plan estimates that, between 2019 and 2025, almost 185,000 home energy upgrades will be delivered with over 83,000 to a B2/cost optimal level. When the emissions savings from the non-B2 upgrades are included, this is the equivalent of 120,000 B2 upgrades over the period. As a result, there will a need to deliver, on average, approximately 75,000 B2-equivalent home upgrades per year from 2026 to 2030 to achieve the overall target of 500,000 by 2030.

Question No. 131 answered with Question No. 130.
Question No. 132 answered with Question No. 130.
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