In Ireland, 2023 was the warmest year in Ireland since data became available in 1961 and the wettest year since data became available in 1941 (See Figures 4.4 and 4.5). The average temperature in 2023 was 10.960 Celsius and there was rainfall of 1,511 millimetre recorded.
Globally, nine of the ten warmest years since 1850 occurred in the decade since 2014. The highest average annual temperature in the world over this timeframe occurred in 2023 (See Figure 1.1).
China was the world’s greatest producer of greenhouse gases in 2022 at 13.9 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent, more than twice the USA figure of 6 billion tonnes (See Table 1.4).
Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions were 55 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2023, down 6.8% from 59 million tonnes in 2022 (See Figure 4.1). Ireland had the second highest emissions of greenhouse gases per capita in the EU-27 in 2022, at 11.7 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (See Figure 4.2).
In 2023, just 1% of urban wastewater received no treatment compared with 41% in 1997-1999 (See Figure 5.3 and Table 5.3).
Fertiliser sales in Ireland fell by 24% from almost 1.9 million tonnes in 2022 to 1.4 million tonnes in 2023 (See Figure 6.3 and Table 6.3).
Renewable energy accounted for 41% of electricity generation in Ireland in 2023 up from 5% in 1990-1994 (See Table 7.3).
The proportion of municipal waste sent to landfill in Ireland fell from an average of 67% between 2001-2004 to 14% in 2022 (See Table 9.2).
Environmental Indicators Report Ireland was first published in 2012 on a biennial basis and from 2018 and moved to an annual release in 2018. This is the tenth edition of Environmental Indicators Ireland.
A total of 72 indicators covering 10 themes have been selected for this release. 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 themes 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; Environmental Protection Agency; European Environment Agency; Eurostat; Met Éireann; National Biodiversity Data Centre; National Parks and Wildlife Service; Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland; Our World in Data; the UK’s Met Office Hadley Centre; and the United Nations for providing data and technical advice on the most appropriate indicators for Ireland.
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (29 January 2025) published Environmental Indicators Ireland 2024.
Commenting on the release Reamonn McKeever, Statistician in the Environment Division of the CSO said: “Today, publish the CSO’s 2024 report on Environmental Indicators Ireland. This release covers 72 indicators under 10 key themes (See Editor’s Note below).
In terms of global warming, 2023 was the warmest year on record in the world between 1850 and 2023, 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 1961-2023 period occurred in 2023 at 10.96o Celsius, while 2023 was also the wettest year in Ireland over the period between 1941 and 2023, with rainfall of 1,511 millimetres.
China was the world’s highest producer of greenhouse gas emissions in 2022 at 13.9 billion tonnes, up 204% from its 1990-1994 average figure. By contrast, emissions by the EU-27 fell by 27% over the same time frame. Emissions in Ireland fell by 3.1% from an average of 56.7 million tonnes in 1990-1994 to 55 million tonnes in 2023.”
Other Highlights include: