Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2024
379. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the targets for commercial building emission reductions and energy targets; the steps being taken to achieve this target; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14260/24]
View answerUnder the Programme for Government, Ireland has committed to reducing emissions by 51% across all sectors of the economy by 2030 and to become net zero by 2050. These commitments are enshrined in law under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021.
The Sectoral Emissions Ceiling (SECs) prescribe how the emissions reduction targets are divided among different sectors of the economy. Accordingly, I as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and alongside the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, am committed to reducing emissions from the heating of commercial buildings by 20% by 2025 and 45% by 2030. The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive will also set minimum standards for efficiency and retrofit targets for our non-residential buildings.
These targets now require significantly reducing the fossil fuels we use to heat the space and water used in our commercial premises including offices, hotels, restaurants, retail, and other places of work. It requires us to retrofit inefficient buildings, remove natural gas, heating oil or other fossil fuels when and where economically feasible, and to change our behaviour to use the energy we need as efficiently as possible. Many businesses have already made progress on this journey, and the Climate Toolkit for Business is a useful online resource for those who are just getting started.
The Government is providing significant financial supports for businesses to take these measures. Thousands of businesses are being supported through the Green Transition Fund, SEAI energy programmes, SkillNet Ireland training, the LEO Green for Business programme, and a range of other advisory, training and grant aid offerings. We are constantly looking for ways to better equip enterprises for this transition, and to increase the uptake of available supports - for example, we amended SEAI's Solar PV grants for businesses last summer to make them more accessible and attractive, and seen a substantial increase in demand for that scheme following this amendment.
Under the Heat and Built |Environment Taskforce, my officials are also preparing a Decarbonisation Roadmap for our commercial built environment, that will set out the key additional policy interventions required to achieve the objectives set out for emissions reduction from our commercial building stock. The Roadmap will include reference to the standards, regulations and implementation timelines that will help drive the necessary changes in heating systems, minimum equipment efficiencies and smart operational and monitoring strategies and technologies required to meet the targets. The Roadmap will further assess the opportunities to address the 'spit incentive' where a building is leased, including through the use of green lease clauses. I expect that this Roadmap can be published in the coming months.
