Ireland is not on track to meet any of its 2020 renewable energy targets. Learn more about our renewable energy targets, view our analysis, see where Ireland is leading and where we are falling short.
Renewable energy displaced 2.0 Mtoe of fossil fuel consumption and avoided 4.9 MtCO2 of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018. This was equivalent to 13% of total energy-related CO2 emissions, or the same as taking 70% of all private cars off of the road.
In 2018 Ireland was 27th out of 28 EU countries for progress towards the 2020 overall renewable energy target. Ireland’s low share of RES-H is the biggest reason for our poor progress.
“This report demonstrates the challenges we face in transitioning away from fossil fuels. Most of the energy we use to generate electricity, to heat our homes and businesses and for transport comes from burning fossil fuels like gas, coal, peat and oil. We need to eliminate energy waste and transition to using more renewable sources of energy like wind, solar, heat pumps and bioenergy as quickly as we can.”
