Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 November 2023
48. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence his views on the role of the Defence Forces in mitigating the effects of climate change; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50717/23]
View answerThe Climate Action Plan 2021 (CAP21) committed that public sector bodies will reduce Green House Gases by 51% by 2030, improve energy efficiency from 33% (2020) to 50% by 2030 and produce a Climate Action Roadmap by the end of March 2023. The Climate Action Roadmap is a document to be produced by public sector bodies which communicates how each public body aims to meet the requirements of the Climate Action Mandate 2022 and reach its 2030 carbon and energy efficiency targets.
The Department of Defence and the Defence Forces have recently published its Climate Action Roadmap, identifying what measures need to be in place to meet the 2030 targets. The Defence Forces are committed to developing measures under this roadmap and shares the ambition in the EU Green Deal to create a carbon neutral continent by 2050, and over the next decade will transform from a high to low carbon organisation without compromising operational outputs.
The Defence Forces are actively engaged in reducing its carbon footprint through a number of initiatives, such as: installation of e-charging points in all military installations to promote use of electric vehicles; replacement of suitable elements of the transport fleet to electric vehicles; reduction in the use of fossil fuels; installation of solar panels on many Defence Force buildings. The Defence Forces will continue to mitigate the effects of climate change in line with the Governments Climate Action Plan through future initiatives and use of emerging greener technologies.
The Defence Forces have reduced energy consumption by 24.7% since 2009 and also managed to continue to achieve reductions based on the 2016-2018 baseline upon which 2030 targets are calculated, with a 19% reduction achieved since this period.
The Defence Forces also continues to expend up to 12% of its annual Capital allocation for land fleet procurement on electrically powered, zero-emission vehicles (EPVs) and hybrid-powered vehicles.
As our energy providers move towards providing greener services our CO2 usage is automatically reducing. The HQ building in Newbridge uses a wood pellet burner as the main source of heating for our Newbridge Office and our target for achieving 51% reduction in Green House Gases by 2030 is well underway.
This proactive approach is also reflected in the Defence Forces Built Infrastructure Programme 2022 – 2027 which commits that all future projects, be they new build or refurbishments, will take account of the Government’s Climate Action Plan.
