Kildare Green Party member welcomes EPA report

THE Green Party Representative in Kildare has welcomed the EPA annual report which shows that emissions in 2023 are down 6.8% on the previous year. This is the lowest that greenhouse gas emissions have been in three decades.

Dr Lorraine Benson said the reduction was an incredible result. She said it builds on the reduction of almost 2% last year and shows that Ireland is making real progress in terms of hitting national targets.

The amount of greenhouse gases we’re producing is at its lowest level in 30 years which is all the more impressive considering how much bigger our economy and our population is compared to back then.

The reduction is good news from a climate point of view and other fronts too. It means cleaner air because we’re burning fewer fossil fuels, more jobs because we’re producing our own energy instead of importing it from abroad, and lower fuel bills and warmer homes because we’re insulating our buildings.

Commenting on the report Kildare Green Party representative Lorraine Benson said: "Many people told us this could not be done, but this result is a staggering drop in a single year. It puts us on track to meet our 2030 targets. Of course, there is more work to be done and we need more incentives for retrofitting our homes. I hope further climate measures will be introduced to help more people benefit from the warmer homes schemes in this year's budget."

She said homeowners are the ones who are making a real difference - every day across Ireland, 70 families are putting solar panels on their roofs while almost twice that number are retrofitting their homes.

Farmers are embracing new ways of working in order to lower their footprint, while more and more people are opting for public transport every year.