A large increase in the number of vehicles on Irish roads and growth in the services sector have contributed to a 7 per cent increase in greenhouse gas emissions between 1997 and 2004, according to new statistics from the Central Statistics Office.
Environmental accounts for Ireland between 1997 and 2004 published yesterday show that greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector, mainly carbon-dioxide emissions, increased by 62 per cent over the seven-year period.
The increase coincided with a rise in the number of vehicles on Irish roads from 1.4 million in 1997 to over 2 million in 2004.
Other contributory factors include people using more fuel when travelling to their destination because of traffic problems.
Similarly, the services sector, including retailers, hotels and restaurants and research and development activity, has seen the level of greenhouse gases it emits increase by 31 per cent between 1997 and 2004.
The figures confirm the significant difficulties faced by the Government in its attempts to meet greenhouse gas targets set out in the Kyoto Protocol. This commits Ireland to limiting its increase in emissions of greenhouse gases to 13 per cent above 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012.
The Environmental Protection Agency had estimated that Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions were 23 per cent higher in 2004 than in 1990. The latest CSO figures estimate, for the first time, the scale of the increases in emissions between 1997 and 2004.
The agriculture, forestry and fishing sector has the highest level of greenhouse gas emissions at 20 million tonnes a year in 2004. However, it has seen a 9 per cent cut in emissions between 1997 and 2004, primarily because of a fall in livestock numbers. Similarly, the industrial sector saw its greenhouse emissions decrease by 10 per cent over the same period largely due to the use of cleaner fuels and more efficient production processes.
However the figures reveal wide differences in greenhouse gas emissions within the sector.
For example, while chemical production recorded a decrease of 68 per cent in emissions between 1997 and 2004, mainly due to the closure of the IFI fertiliser plants outside Arklow, Co Wicklow, and Marino Point, Cork harbour, the cement manufacturing industry increased its emissions by 64 per cent. The food, beverage and tobacco manufacturing sector decreased its greenhouse gas emissions by 11 per cent, but the construction sector and related activity recorded a 16 per cent increase.
There is some welcome news for the Government in the new figures. Emissions of sulphur-dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and ammonia - all of which lead to acid rain - declined by 24 per cent between 1997 and 2004.
Sulphur-dioxide emissions decreased by 57 per cent in all sectors principally due to a decline in emissions from electricity generation and the introduction of low-sulphur transport fuel.