Council Paper Working Series

Farmers are increasingly exposed to climate change. To build farm and farmer resilience against climate change, and potentially capture any associated opportunities, new practices and processes leading to the development, dissemination, and adoption of mitigation and adaptation measures are needed. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine farm-level resilience towards climate impacts and behavioural change responses to Ireland’s current climate.

The scale of financing required to transition to a low carbon economy in Ireland is estimated to be in excess of €125bn to 2030, so both mobilizing public and private finance is essential. Sustainable finance is where environmental, social, and governance factors are incorporated into the decision-making process and is essential for channeling funds to projects, initiatives, and companies that have a sustainable and productive use for them.

The current study was commissioned by the Irish Climate Change Advisory Council to further explore transboundary climate risks in three specific areas: agriculture and food security, infrastructure and trade, and biophysical systems and ecosystem services 

For Ireland to achieve its ambitious carbon budget targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, significant changes of land and sea use are necessary over the coming years. The required changes, particularly in the agriculture, energy and forestry sectors, will have implications for the health and condition of habitats and the spatial distribution of species. This report was developed to address the need to consider impacts to biodiversity in achieving the carbon budgets targets .

The consequences of climate change, including rising sea levels, crop failures, and extreme weather events such as heatwaves, floods, and wildfires, are causing significant impacts on our economic, social, and ecological systems. This project has focused on creating a better understanding of climate change impacts for Ireland from an economic perspective as well as its adaptation policy landscape.

This study builds on the importance of involving communities in the decision-making process through dialogue between communities and policy makers. It aims to facilitate dialogue by delivering community informed policy recommendations in the context of building resilience in coastal areas in Ireland and will support the Just Transition principle of continued social dialogue.

This report sets out the results of research on how Ireland could by 2030 reduce its carbon emissions from the road haulage sector, which is regarded as one of the more ‘difficult to decarbonise’ sectors of the transport industry.

Research on the Assessment of Specific Barriers to District Heating Deployment in Ireland

Barriers to Industrial Heat Decarbonisation

Review of Deployment of Long Duration Energy Storage in the Electricity Sector in Ireland

This small-scale study identifies the current and emerging best practice nature-based solutions within Ireland. It pinpoints innovative nature-based solutions and initiatives that are actively contributing to climate adaptation or mitigation and provides a compendium of nature-based solutions in an Irish context.

This study reviews approaches to setting carbon budgets in other jurisdictions to support the development of the second programme of carbon budgets by the Climate Change Advisory Council. The study reviews and describe approaches in Ireland, the UK, New Zealand, the Netherlands, France, Finland, and Denmark and also the EU approach to setting targets and trajectories where relevant, with a particular focus on approaches and lessons which could be applied in an Irish context.

The aim of this study is to evaluate some of the trade-offs involved if policies to reduce GHG emissions in Ireland led to reduced production of livestock and livestock products, particularly dairy production.

This report summarizes the work and key findings of the Carbon Budget Fellowship held by Andrew ZP Smith. The Fellowship ran for two years from early 2021, and was based in the Energy Policy & Modelling Group of University College Cork.

This report surveys potential policy measures to support sustainable growth in solar PV that have recently been implemented or proposed in other jurisdictions. These measures can be assessed to determine their relevance to Ireland.

The aim of this small-scale study is to conduct a short literature review and a preliminary scoping exercise to identify data collection requirements to inform strategies for sustainable practices at farm level.

This report used a literature review and a series of nine key informant interviews to present a short summary of research priorities, and research funding structures in both Ireland and Europe.

This research offers a framework to identify the key normative and quantitative choices required for any national such national Paris Test (PT) and applies it to enable a reassessment of Ireland’s initial PT to identify necessary clarifications and potential quantitative adjustments.

This report conducts a desk-based analysis of the residential sector between Ireland and a purposive selection of several comparable European economies. The report focuses on three main strands: (1) Profiling the energy efficiency of the residential building stock, (2) identifying residential energy efficiency policies and (3) exploring evidence on policy effectiveness and opportunities for further progress. The review encompassed policy and academic literature.

Planning Policy and Decarbonisation

Reviewing Local Authority Renewable Energy Strategies’ contribution to Ireland’s 2030 Renewable Electricity Targets

Analysis on reform of Fossil Fuel Subsidies 2022

Hydrogen in Ireland Discussion Paper

Designing policy for sustainable technology

Well informed adaptation decision making under uncertainty

Opportunities for individual, household and community level climate change adaptation in Ireland

Detecting and avoiding impasse mechanisms for nature-based approaches to climate change adaptation in Ireland

ReHeat: Review of the Irish Heat Sector - Policies, Technologies, and Best Practice

Transitioning to low carbon and sustainable mobility

Designing and Implementing Policy for a Just Transition

Adaptation Challenges and Opportunities for Irish Cities

Climate Change Mitigation and the Irish Agriculture and Land Use Sector

Carbon Price Floor in Ireland

The Impact of a Carbon Price Floor on European Electricity Markets

Understanding the Driving Forces of Carbon Emissions in Ireland

Assessment of the Climate Impact of Ireland’s Emissions and Simple Future Emissions Scenarios