Ireland 2040: €22bn to turn State into low–carbon economy
The Government’s new national development plan envisages a radical overhaul of how the State tackles climate change, allocating €22 billion – one fifth of the entire budget – to a series of measures that will turn Ireland into a low–carbon economy by 2050.
The measures are primarily aimed at transport, agriculture and the built environment, and include a plan to stop burning coal to produce electricity at the ESB’s Moneypoint plant, the State’s single largest carbon emitter, by 2025.
On transport, there will be ban on the purchase of all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030, a decade ahead of the UK, while there is also a target of having at least 500,000 electric vehicles – a third of the State’s private transport fleet – on the road by the same date.
To achieve the transformation, additional charging infrastructure to cater for the planned growth has been pledged.
Under the plan, Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann will be forbidden from buying anything but electric buses from 2019 in a bid to reduce air pollution in the cities and elsewhere.