As part of our Climate Action Hub, an ongoing Climate | Focus series of specialised research papers, blogs and commentaries intends to provoke thought and debate in this area of vital national interest.
The latest in the series visually explores environmental indicators in a range of sectoral areas, such as transport, energy and agriculture, as well as more general environmental data.
The Houses of the Oireachtas Climate Action Hub brings together expertise from across the Service to enhance our provision of climate-related information, research and analysis. With input from our Library & Research Service, the Parliamentary Budget Office, the committees secretariat and the sustainability unit, this hub is a repository of information related to climate action in the Service.
The Climate | Focus series is available on our Climate Hub.
The latest in the Climate | Focus series is a visual insight into environmental indicators across the sectoral areas of transport, energy and agriculture, as well as some focused exploration of data relating to waste, air quality, emissions, water quality and biodiversity.
Some key points from the interactive resource:
Transport: The number of electric vehicles as a percentage of new licensed private cars has increased each year since 2016 and although there was a falloff in 2024, EVs have since increased to 32.2% of new licensed private cars in the first quarter of 2025.
Energy: The share of electricity generated by renewables over the most recent period with data available up to April 2025 was 38.9%, with wind alone accounting for 32.3% of the total.
Waste: In August 2024, 112 million drinks containers were returned under the Deposit Return Scheme, which was an increase of 9% compared to July 2024.