Ireland’s clean, fresh air, lush green landscapes and stunning coastlines are renowned worldwide.
However, we are now facing a global crisis that means our scenic environment is under threat and its future can no longer be taken for granted.
Climate change is the greatest challenge of our times and urgent action is required to prevent irreversible damage to our planet that will lead to biodiversity loss, coastal flooding, increased threats to health and numerous other consequences.
Tackling climate change is one of the European Commission’s top priorities and the European Green Deal is its ambitious plan to transform Europe into the first climate-neutral continent.
European Green Deal
The European Green Deal is the EU’s roadmap to reach climate neutrality by 2050 and build a modern, resource‑efficient, competitive circular economy that works for people and nature. Launched in 2019, the Green Deal set the course for a cleaner, fairer and more sustainable future. The Commission’s agenda for 2024–2029 maintains this ambition, with a stronger focus on delivery, competitiveness and security across energy, industry, nature and food systems.
Key Pillars of the European Green Deal include:
1. Energy and Climate Action
- Fit for 55 Package: Sets out measures to cut net greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels. The Commission has also proposed a 90% reduction target for 2040.
- REPowerEU: Accelerates renewables and strengthens energy security. The EU aims to end reliance on Russian fossil fuels by 2027. In April 2025, Ireland's revised National Recovery and Resilience Plan, unlocked €240 million in REPowerEU grants for the green transition.
- Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Cuts energy use in homes and public buildings while improving comfort and lowering bills.
2. Green Deal Industrial Plan
- Scales up clean technology manufacturing to secure Europe’s leadership in the global green economy.
- It promotes investment and innovation in renewables, batteries, and hydrogen production.
- The Net-Zero Industry Act supports large-scale production of net-zero technologies within the EU.
- The Critical Raw Materials Act ensures a sustainable supply of key materials essential for green technologies.
3. Biodiversity and Nature Restoration
- EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030: Works to halt biodiversity loss and restore at least 20% of Europe’s degraded ecosystems.
- EU Nature Restoration Law: Focuses on wetlands, rivers, forests and marine areas. Ireland must submit its national Nature Restoration Plan to the Commission by September 2026.
- Soil Monitoring Law: Boosts food system resilience via sustainable soil management and climate‑resilient crops.
4. Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems
- Farm to Fork Strategy: Promotes sustainable farming, reduces pesticide use, and supports fair, healthy, and climate-friendly food systems.
- Food Waste Reduction Targets: Legally binding targets to cut food waste by 10% in processing and manufacturing, and by 30% in shops, restaurants, and homes by 2030.
5. Circular Economy and Consumer Protection
- Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: Ensures imported goods meet EU environmental standards by encouraging cleaner production methods.
- The Circular Economy Act: Due to be adopted in 2026, the Act will cut waste and keep materials in use for longer, making it easier to buy and sell high‑quality recycled materials across the EU.
- Green Transition Directive: Finalised in April 2025, this directive empowers consumers by banning vague environmental claims (greenwashing) and requiring companies to give clear information on how durable and repairable their products are.
- Revised Packaging Waste Laws: Promote reusable packaging and clearer, more consistent recycling labels.
6. Healthier Communities and Environments
- Ambient Air Quality Directives: Bring EU air quality standards in line with scientific advice and introduce compensation rights for people affected by pollution.
- Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive: Improves water quality and promotes more cost-effective treatment solutions.
- Water Resilience Strategy: Introduced in June, 2025, the strategy outlines actions to secure reliable, clean water for people, nature, and the economy as droughts, floods and pollution increase across Europe.
7. Social Equity and Just Transition
- Funds such as the Just Transition Fund, Social Climate Fund, and EU Civil Protection Mechanism provide targeted support to vulnerable communities and regions reliant on carbon-intensive industries.
EU Energy Climate change, Environment
Delivering on the Fit for 55 proposals
Biodiversity Strategy for 2030
Green Deal progress
The European Environment Agency's (EEA) latest five-year report, Europe's environment 2025, provides the most comprehensive assessment to date of how the EU is progressing towards Green Deal goals.
The EEA's assessment reveals strong climate progress but also highlights lagging biodiversity protection and climate adaptation.
Key Findings at a Glance:
- Climate Action on Track: EU net emissions are down 37% since 1990 and on course for the 55% cut by 2030, driven by less fossil fuel use and more renewables.
- Biodiversity and Adaptation Lagging: Over 80% of protected habitats are in poor or bad condition. Adaptation to heatwaves, floods and droughts remains insufficient
- Pollution and Circularity Challenges: Air quality has improved, but noise, chemicals and agricultural pollution still pose major health risks. Circular economy progress is currently too slow to meet 2030 targets.
The EEA’s report found that while the Green Deal’s policies are sound, their full and rapid implementation across all sectors is crucial to bridge the gap between ambition and reality and ensure a sustainable future for Europe.
Ireland’s Green Transition
All EU Member States need to demonstrate how EU climate targets will be met through National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs). Draft NECPs are analysed by the Commission and country-specific recommendations are provided before Member States submit their final plans.
In May 2025, the Commission published its assessment of Ireland’s latest NECP, which was submitted in July 2024. The assessment called for more precise timelines, clearer information on expected impacts, and greater detail on how measures will be financed to ensure the plan delivers on its ambitions.
The European Environment Agency's (EEA) country report for Ireland also highlights shortcomings in Ireland’s efforts to reach climate change targets.
The report found:
- Greenhouse gas emissions dipped below 1990 levels for the first time in 2023, but Ireland is still projected to miss the 42% cut by 2030.
- Water quality has largely stalled, due to pressures from agriculture, altered river morphology and flows, forestry and sewage discharges.
- The economy remains mostly linear, with high material use, rising waste and reliance on exporting waste rather than recycling locally.
- Biodiversity is under significant pressure with widespread habitat and species decline.
The report did highlight some positive developments for Ireland’s environment, including top‑tier air quality, rapid growth in renewable electricity and early public transport gains that could cut emissions. However, energy, transport, food and industry must transform faster.
According to projections published in May 2025 by Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), emissions are expected to fall by up to 23% by 2030 compared to the 51% national target, provided measures are fully implemented across sectors.
The EPA also projects that:
- Ireland will not meet its EU Effort Sharing Regulation target of 42% reduction by 2030.
- Land emissions may rise by up to 95%, jeopardising EU commitment.
The European Commission has supported Ireland in protecting peat bog habitats, which are vital carbon sinks. Centuries of land reclamation and turf cutting have severely degraded these bogs, with only about 1% of Ireland's raised bogs now remaining. Despite EU‑funded restoration, damage continues in places, leading to a 2024 referral to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for failing to protect these sites. Ireland’s Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage states turf‑cutting has ceased on almost 80% of protected raised bog sites since 2011.
Other non‑compliance referrals to the CJEU include invasive alien species, Water Framework Directive transposition, and Drinking Water Directive requirements.
In November 2024, Ireland received a formal notice from the Commission on Urban Waste Water Treatment. Another formal notice on drinking water was issued in July 2025.
Ireland’s Climate Action Plan 2025, the third update under the 2021 Climate Act, keeps the legally binding 51% economy‑wide emissions cut by 2030 and aims to step up delivery across power, homes, transport, farming, industry and land use.
Europe's Environment 2025: Ireland
National energy and climate plans (NECPs)
Commission Assessment of Ireland’s NECP
Ireland’s National Energy and Climate Plan
Funding Ireland's transition
Europe’s objective to become climate‑neutral by 2050 requires major public and private investment. Through the Green Deal Investment Plan, the EU aims to mobilise at least €1 trillion in sustainable investment in 2021–2030 by leveraging the EU budget to attract national and private finance.
Key funding sources for Ireland include:
- The Just Transition Mechanism (JTM) is the Plan’s key instrument to support regions and sectors most affected by the transition.
- Ireland’s Territorial Just Transition Plan has €84.5 million from the EU Just Transition Fund, matched by national co‑funding for a total of up to €169 million, much of it focused on the Midlands affected by peat phase‑out.
Ireland’s €914 million Recovery and Resilience Plan devotes about 42% to climate measures, including:
- €164 million for upgrading Cork’s commuter rail system to encourage a shift from private car usage.
- €155 million for energy efficiency measures in residential and public buildings across Ireland.
- €20 million on feasibility studies on 20 small wastewater plants and upgrades of at least 10.
The EU Cities Mission supports the transition by helping 100 European cities, including Dublin and Cork, become climate-neutral by 2030. With €360 million from Horizon Europe in 2022-2023 and the 2024 Climate City Capital Hub, labelled cities receive finance and technical assistance.
Explainer: European Green Deal Investment Plan and Just Transition Mechanism
LIFE funding for Ireland
LIFE is the EU's flagship funding programme for nature, biodiversity protection and the fight against climate change. The €5.4 billion LIFE programme for 2021-2027 includes funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
Examples of projects benefitting from LIFE funding in Ireland include:
- LIFE Emerald was a finalist at the 2025 LIFE Awards and delivered Ireland’s first real‑time air‑quality nowcast and three‑day forecast system, strengthening implementation of EU Ambient Air Quality Directives
- Waters of Life is a €20 million project to halt and reverse the deterioration of some of Ireland’s most pristine rivers.
- MPA LIFE Ireland is a nine‑year project to design and deliver a well‑managed Marine Protected Area network covering 30% of Ireland’s seas by 2030, co‑created with scientists, stakeholders and coastal communities to achieve official Good Environmental Status (GES).
- LIFE SNaP Ireland is a €33.9 million, NPWS‑led project (with the Department of Agriculture and Coillte Nature) to build a national conservation data platform, unlock complementary funding, and deliver targeted restoration, It is running from 2024-2032.
- Wild Atlantic Nature is a €20.6 million, nine‑year LIFE project restoring blanket bogs in Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo and Galway through farmer‑led, community action, and it won the 2024 Natura 2000 Award for ‘Working together for nature’.
- Peatlands and People is a 7-year €10 million LIFE project that has been making improvements across more than 9,900 hectares of peatlands in the midlands since 2020.
- LIFE AUDIT-PLUS is a three‑year, €1.3 million project coordinated by the International Energy Research Centre at University College Cork that offers free energy‑efficiency consultancy to energy‑intensive industries in Ireland, Spain and Poland to cut energy use and GHG emissions, The project is expected to create nearly 1,000 full-time jobs.
Life Programme in Ireland factsheet
Facts: Ireland's Environment
- Temperature Increase: Average temperature is up by about 1.0°C since the early 1900s. 2024 was the fourth warmest year on record, and seven of the ten warmest years have occurred since 2005.
- Air Quality Concerns: Ireland meets most EU legal limits, but PM2.5 and NO2 still exceed WHO guidelines, and further action is needed to meet the tighter 2030 EU target.
- Water Quality Challenges: Nutrient pollution remains high and estuaries face ongoing pressures, with local improvements offset by declines elsewhere.
- Biodiversity Loss: Nearly half of EU protected habitats are in poor condition with ongoing decline per Article 17 reporting and EPA's latest nature assessment.
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Emissions fell 6.8% in 2023 and an estimated 2.0% in 2024 to 53.75 Mt CO2eq; per‑capita is around 10 t CO2eq, and Ireland remains high per‑capita in the EU vs 2030 goals.
- Circular economy: Waste has grown while recycling stagnates, risking 2025 EU targets and sustaining reliance on export markets for some recycling.
Latest environment news
The European Commission granted almost €3.5 million to two Irish projects, HERO and BUSUnited, under the 2024 EU LIFE Programme to accelerate Ireland’s clean energy transition.
This year, the EU tent at Ploughing is connecting visitors of all ages with the principles of organic farming, zero waste, and the circular economy in action.
The European Commission decided today to send reasoned opinions to Ireland (INFR(2024)0231), Latvia (INFR(2024)0237) and Portugal (INFR(2024)0245) for failing to fully transpose into national law the provisions of the revised Renewable Energy Directive.
The European Commission formally approved the European Ocean Pact, a comprehensive strategy to better protect the ocean, promote a thriving blue economy and support the well-being of people living in coastal areas.