Ireland failing to meet Kyoto emission targets

Ireland's greenhouse-gas emissions are running far ahead of the targets set under the Kyoto Protocol, new figures published by the Central Statistics Office yesterday reveal.

Significant remedial measures will be required to meet the Government's commitments under the agreement, the CSO warned in its Environmental Accounts 1995-2002.

The report says that greenhouse-gas emissions in 2002 were 29 per cent higher than those of 1990.

Under the Kyoto agreement, the Government gave a commitment to limit the increases in greenhouse-gas emissions to 13 per cent above the 1990 levels between the years 2008 and 2012.

"Based on the Environmental Protection Agency's official estimates, national greenhouse-gas emissions exceeded the Kyoto target in 1997 and were 29 per cent above the 1990 baseline level in 2002.

"Clearly as identified in the National Climate Change Strategy (October 2000), significant remedial measures are required to meet our commitment under the Kyoto protocol," the CSO report states.

However, the report does point out that the position regarding the level of greenhouse-gas emissions does seem to be improving slightly, down from 31 per cent above 1990 levels in 2001 to 29 above in 2002.

The report also says that the level of greenhouse-gas emissions from the transport sector has been rising steadily in recent years.

The Central Statistics Office report also maintains that the country will have to make significant further reductions in acid rain precursor emissions if it is to meet the targets in another international agreement.

Acid rain occurs when acidic gases and particles are transported in the air before falling to the ground.

High concentrations can be harmful to health, water and soil quality and can reduce plant growth and damage forests.

Ireland is committed to reducing the emissions of four acid rain precursor air pollutants by 2010 under the terms of the 1999 Gothenburg Protocol.

The Central Statistics Office report shows that emissions of acid rain precursors, expressed as sulphur dioxide equivalents, amounted to a total of 407,000 tonnes in 2002.

This represented a decline of 14 per cent since 1995.

However, the report maintains that "significant further reductions in Ireland's emissions are required if the targets [under the Gothenburg Protocol] are to be met."

The report states, for example, that emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2) require to be reduced by 56 per cent to meet the 2010 target. Emissions of nitrogen oxides would need to fall by 48 per cent to meet the 2010 targets.

According to the Central Statistics Office report, the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors were the highest contributors to greenhouse-gas emissions, with 28.5 per cent of the total in 2002. The industrial sector contributed 21.3 per cent of the total, while transport was responsible for just over 18 per cent.

However, the figures show that in recent years the level of greenhouse-gas emissions generated by the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector has been falling, while all other sectors in the economy recorded an increase.

"Transport, in particular, changed from having the fifth-highest level of emissions in 1996 to the third-highest in 1999, a position it continued to hold in 2002," the report states.