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The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 may have had an impact on the trend in some of the indicators (such as emissions to air, transport and energy) in this publication.
The highest average annual temperature in Ireland over the 1961-2022 period occurred in 2022 at 10.61o Celsius (see Figure 4.4).
Emissions of greenhouse gases by the EU27 fell by 29% from 4.9 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 1990 to 3.5 billion tonnes in 2021 (see Table 1.4).
The percentage of dwellings completed between 2020 and 2022 in Ireland with an A energy rating was 99% (see Table 2.7).
Ireland had the second highest emissions of greenhouse gases per capita in the EU27 in 2021 at 12.3 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (see Figure 4.2).
In 2022, 1% of urban waste water received no treatment compared with 46% in 1997 (See Table 5.3 and Figure 5.3).
Renewable energy accounted for 39% of electricity generation in Ireland in 2022 up from 5% in 1990 (see Table 7.3).
The proportion of municipal waste sent to landfill in Ireland fell from 74% in 2001 to 16% in 2021 (see Table 9.2).
The Environmental Indicators Report for Ireland was first published in 2012 originally on a biennial basis and from 2018 on an annual basis. This is the ninth edition of Environmental Indicators Ireland.
A total of 70 indicators covering 10 domains have been selected for this publication Many of the indicators are presented in a time-series format for Ireland, while the international context is shown by comparing Ireland with other countries and world regions for the latest year for which data are available.
The environment area is wide-ranging and the 10 domains cover the global context, environmental economy, air, greenhouse gases and climate change, water, land use, energy, transport, waste and biodiversity.
The CSO wishes to thank: BirdWatch Ireland; Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Department of Transport; European Environment Agency; Environmental Protection Agency; Eurostat; Met Éireann; National Parks and Wildlife Service; Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland; and United Nations for providing data and technical advice on the most appropriate indicators for Ireland.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (14 December 2023) released the Environmental Indicators Ireland Report 2023
Commenting on the publication Reamonn McKeever, Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division of the CSO said: “Today, we publish the CSO’s 2023 report on Environmental Indicators Ireland. This publication covers 70 indicators over 10 themes.
In terms of global warming, 2015-2019 were the five warmest years on record between 1850 and 2019 as measured by global mean near surface temperature deviations compared with pre-industrial 1850-1899 levels.
The highest average annual temperature in Ireland over the 1961-2022 period occurred in 2022 at 10.61o Celsius.
Emissions of greenhouse gases by the EU27 fell by 29% from 4.9 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 1990 to 3.5 billion tonnes in 2021. Emissions in Ireland rose by 9.2% from 55.6 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 1990 to 60.8 million tonnes in 2022.
Other findings include: