A new report from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) reveals some uncomfortable truths about the government\u2019s prospects of meeting its climate action targets, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore.<\/p>\n
Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s energy spokesperson, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe SEAI\u2019s 2024 Energy in Ireland report states that we have failed to break the link between economic growth and fossil fuel use in a meaningful way. The average fall in emissions stands at just 2.7 per cent per year but needs to be at 5 per cent if we are to reach the legally binding 50 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.<\/p>\n
\u201cTransport, which is 93 per cent powered by fossil fuels, continues to be one of the main impediments to hitting our targets. While greenhouse gas emissions from transport are down 5.3 per cent compared with 2018, the average 0.9 per cent reduction per year is well below what is needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cPublic transport is simply not receiving the attention or urgency it deserves from the government, with projects taking far too long and unreliable bus and rail services deterring people from giving up their cars. The EU now rowing back on a combustible engine ban \u2013 designed to force a switch en masse to electric vehicles \u2013 will deal a further blow to our climate ambitions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government is sleepwalking us towards failure \u2013 and billions in EU non-compliance fines. Without radical policy shifts on energy use by data centres, decisive transport reforms, and a ramping up of home efficiency schemes, we won\u2019t come anywhere close to meeting our 2030 targets.\u201d<\/p>\n
December 17, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new report from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) reveals some uncomfortable truths about the government\u2019s prospects of meeting its climate action targets, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s energy spokesperson, said: \u201cThe SEAI\u2019s 2024 Energy in Ireland report states that we have failed to break […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[405,539,268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","category-energy","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n