Environment Measuring Ireland's Progress 2013

EU: Net greenhouse gas emissions

3.1 EU: Net greenhouse gas emissions, 2012¹

	1990=100
Country	2012 emissions index	Kyoto target index	Above/below target
Latvia	43	92	-53.3%
Lithuania	44	92	-51.7%
Estonia	47	92	-48.5%
Romania	48	92	-47.9%
Bulgaria	56	92	-39.1%
Slovakia	58	92	-36.5%
Hungary	64	94	-32.2%
Czech Republic	67	92	-26.8%
Sweden	81	104	-22.4%
Greece	106	125	-15.4%
Croatia	83	95	-13.0%
Finland	88	100	-11.9%
United Kingdom	78	88	-11.4%
Belgium	83	93	-10.7%
France	89	100	-10.5%
Portugal	115	127	-9.6%
Poland	86	94	-8.7%
EU 15	87	92	-5.8%
Ireland	107	113	-5.3%
Italy	90	94	-4.0%
Germany	77	79	-3.1%
Denmark	77	79	-2.6%
Netherlands	93	94	-0.8%
Spain	122	115	6.5%
Slovenia	103	92	11.5%
Austria	104	87	19.6%
Luxembourg	97	72	35.4%
Cyprus	148	:	:
Malta	157	:	:

Norway	107	101	5.9%
Switzerland	98	92	6.1%
Iceland	130	110	17.9%
Source: Eurostat, Environmental Protection Agency
¹2011 data used for Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 3.1 (XLS 17KB)

Under the Kyoto protocol, EU15 countries agreed to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU by 8% on 1990 levels for the period 2008-2012.
Ireland's Kyoto burden-sharing target is to ensure that average levels in the 2008-2012 period are no more than 13% above Ireland's 1990 emissions.
Between 2002 and 2008 the level of emissions from Ireland was in the range of 126% to 128% of the 1990 level. However, Irish emissions fell sharply in 2009 to 115% of the 1990 level and decreased steeply again in 2011 to 106%, before rising slightly to 107% in 2012, (see graph).
In 2012 Ireland was 5.3% below the Kyoto limit and ranked 18th among EU countries relative to the Kyoto limit.
Four EU countires were above their respective Kyoto emissions limits in 2012 - Luxembourg, Austria, Slovenia and Spain.

	Ireland	Kyoto target
2002	126	113
2003	126	113
2004	125	113
2005	128	113
2006	128	113
2007	127	113
2008	126	113
2009	115	113
2010	114	113
2011	106	113
2012	107	113

Gross inland consumption of energy divided by GDP

3.2 Gross inland consumption of energy divided by GDP, 2008-2012

				kgoe per €1,000 GDP
Country	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Ireland	89	90	93	84	83
Denmark	93	94	98	90	87
United Kingdom	111	110	111	103	105
Italy	122	121	123	121	117
Austria	128	126	132	125	124
Germany	140	139	141	129	129
Luxembourg	138	137	142	137	134
Spain	144	137	137	135	136
France	151	149	151	143	143
EU	151	149	152	144	143
Portugal	159	161	153	151	147
Malta	177	164	172	164	147
Sweden	154	150	157	149	148
Netherlands	149	150	158	145	149
Greece	151	150	148	154	166
Cyprus	187	186	178	174	167
Belgium	184	182	190	182	172
Finland	207	213	226	210	204
Croatia	224	231	232	232	226
Slovenia	231	228	231	231	228
Hungary	286	290	294	282	269
Lithuania	363	389	307	299	292
Poland	337	320	328	315	299
Latvia	306	357	382	334	329
Slovakia	376	362	369	349	329
Czech Republic	371	364	375	355	355
Romania	410	387	395	394	379
Estonia	469	492	547	506	479
Bulgaria	712	661	669	706	670

Norway	117	117	131	109	114
Iceland	374	400	417	434	425
Macedonia	523	494	494	523	501
Turkey	227	238	233	:	:
		Source: Eurostat

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 3.2 (XLS 20KB)

Ireland's energy intensity ratio deteriorated slightly from 89 in 2008 to 93 in 2010 before improving to 83 in 2012. This ratio is calculated by dividing total usage of coal, electricity, oil, natural gas and renewable energy by GDP and is expressed in terms of kilogramme of oil equivalent (kgoe) per €1,000 GDP.
Ireland was the most energy efficient economy in the EU in 2012, with an energy intensity ratio of 83. Six countries had energy intensity ratios above 300 - Bulgaria, Estonia, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Latvia.
The economic structure of an economy plays an important role in determining energy intensity, as service based economies will display relatively low energy intensity rates, while economies with energy intensive industries (such as iron and steel production) may have a considerable proportion of their economic activity within industrial sectors, leading to higher energy intensity.

Show Graph - 3.2 EU: Gross inland consumption of energy divided by GDP, 2012

	Gross inland consumption of energy divided by GDP
Ireland	82.8
Denmark	87.2
United Kingdom	105.1
Italy	117.3
Austria	123.9
Germany	129.2
Luxembourg	133.8
Spain	136.4
France	142.9
EU	143.2
Portugal	146.5
Malta	147.4
Sweden	148.2
Netherlands	149.4
Greece	165.7
Cyprus	167
Belgium	172.2
Finland	204
Croatia	225.6
Slovenia	227.7
Hungary	268.7
Lithuania	291.6
Poland	298.7
Latvia	328.6
Slovakia	329.3
Czech Republic	355.4
Romania	378.8
Estonia	478.7
Bulgaria	669.9
	0
Norway	114.3
Iceland	425.4
Macedonia	501.2

Ireland: Particulate matter in urban areas

3.3 Ireland: Particulate matter in urban areas, 2003-2013

Year	Dublin		Cork		Other Towns¹
	Average PM10	Number of days PM10 daily limit exceeded	Average PM10	Number of days PM10 daily limit exceeded	Average PM10	Number of days PM10 daily limit exceeded
2003	26	28	26	28	27	7
2004	20	14	22	9	20	1
2005	19	8	19	3	23	6
2006	20	10	16	4	26	19
2007	18	7	15	1	25	4
2008	17	7	16	1	18	5
2009	17	1	18	6	19	4
2010	19	7	22	7	27	34
2011	14	7	21	19	22	24
2012	13	0	17	7	19	8
2013	14	3	19	5	21	11
Source: Environmental Protection Agency
¹ Data provided for other towns over the years have been for different locations, see appendix 1 for details.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 3.3 (XLS 12KB)

The average readings for particulate matter (PM10) in Dublin fell from 26 µg/m3 in 2003 to 20 in 2004 and then remained at around this level between 2005 and 2010.
However in 2011 the average readings for particulate matter in Dublin dropped to 14 µg/m3 and remained at about this level for 2012 and 2013.
The level for Cork was 26 µg/m3 in 2003 before dropping to less than 20 between 2005 and 2009. Levels then rose to 22 in 2010, before falling slightly to stand at 19 in 2013.
The average readings for particulate matter in towns other than Dublin or Cork have ben more variable, ranging from a high of 27 µg/m3 in 2003 and 2010 to a low of 18 in 2008.
European legislation contains limit values which permit particulate matter to exceed 50 µg/m3 on not more than 35 days per annum from 2005. This limit was regularly broken in Dubin in the 1990s but has not been broken since than anywhere in Ireland, although the limit was close to being broken in 2010 for towns other than Dublin or Cork.

	Dublin	Cork	Other towns	EU limit
2003	28	28	7	35
2004	14	9	1	35
2005	8	3	6	35
2006	10	4	19	35
2007	7	1	4	35
2008	7	1	5	35
2009	1	6	4	35
2010	7	7	34	35
2011	7	19	24	35
2012	0	7	8	35
2013	3	5	11	35

Ireland: Greenhouse gas emissions

3.4 Ireland: Greenhouse gas emissions, 2003-2012¹

	000 tonnes CO₂	000 tonnes N₂O	000 tonnes CH₄	000 tonnes CO₂eq.	000 tonnes CO₂eq.
Year	Carbon dioxide	Nitrous oxide	Methane	HFC, PFC, SF₆	Total greenhouse gases
2003	45,209.9	27.5	663.7	859.2	68,525.8
2004	45,865.2	26.9	626.3	886.7	68,244.1
2005	47,689.6	26.2	610.5	1,083.8	69,718.3
2006	47,291.5	25.8	613.8	1,056.4	69,230.0
2007	47,278.5	25.0	588.8	1,047.7	68,435.6
2008	46,925.7	24.6	582.8	1,136.8	67,940.5
2009	41,676.9	24.4	568.9	1,063.9	62,239.5
2010	41,224.7	25.3	558.1	1,045.1	61,827.5
2011	37,650.1	23.5	556.8	1,053.1	57,683.7
2012	37,946.8	23.9	575.0	1,029.2	58,466.6
Source: Environmental Protection Agency, CSO
¹ The components of greenhouse gases shown in the table above do not add to total greenhouse gases as nitrous oxide and methane are not shown in CO₂ equivalents, see Appendix 1 for more details.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 3.4 (XLS 12KB)

Total greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland were reasonably constant between 2003 and 2008 at about 68.5 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.
Emissions fell by 8.4% between 2008 and 2009 to 62.2 million tonnes followed by a slight drop in 2010 to 61.8 million tonnes. Emissions decreased again in 2011, falling by 6.7% to 57.7 million tonnes.
In 2012 there was an increase of 1.4% in greenhouse gas emissions to 58.5 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.
Between 2003 and 2012, total greenhouse gas emissions fell by 14.7% with decreases in each of the main greenhouse gases of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane. Carbon dioxide emissions fell by 16.1%, nitrous oxide by 12.9% and methane by 13.4%.
The other greenhouse gases (HFCs, PFC and SF₆), (which are estimated to comprise around one per cent (in terms of CO₂ eqivalent) of the total green house gas emissions for Ireland), increased by nearly a fifth between 2003 and 2012.

	Total greenhouse gas emissions
2003	68525.8215354305
2004	68244.1396699531
2005	69718.3340316074
2006	69230.0320868308
2007	68435.6463225231
2008	67940.4526005469
2009	62239.4939629556
2010	61827.4628860357
2011	57683.6872739151
2012	58466.6448349001

Ireland: Air pollutant emissions

3.5 Ireland: Air pollutant emissions, 2003-2012

	000 tonnes SO₂	000 tonnes NOx	000 tonnes NH₃	000 tonnes CO
Year	Sulphur dioxide (SO₂)	Nitrogen oxide (NOx)	Ammonia (NH₃)	Carbon monoxide (CO)
2003	79.1	128.9	112.7	207.9
2004	72.0	129.8	111.1	199.2
2005	71.6	129.2	110.0	187.5
2006	60.9	122.9	109.9	178.9
2007	54.5	120.9	106.9	169.2
2008	45.2	108.8	108.2	156.6
2009	32.4	87.0	109.3	149.6
2010	26.3	80.1	107.9	137.4
2011	24.7	71.8	103.7	125.9
2012	23.2	73.8	104.6	118.1
Source: Environmental Protection Agency, CSO

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 3.5 (XLS 12KB)

All the main air pollutants decreased between 2003 and 2012.
Sulphur dioxide emissions fell by 70.7% over the 2003-2012 time period, from 79.1 million tonnes of SO₂ to 23.2 million tonnes. This was accounted for mainly by the electricity and gas supply sector.
Nitrogen oxide emissions, which occur mainly in power generation and road tranpsort, fell by 44.3% between 2003 and 2011 before increasing by 2.8% in 2012.
Ammonia emissions, which are caused mainly by agricultural activity, fell by 7.2% over the 2003-2012 time period. Emissions from carbon monoxide fell by 43.2% over the same time period, driven mainly by more efficient cars and a reduction in the use of solid fuels by households.

Ireland: Total municipal waste generated, recovered and landfilled

3.6 Ireland: Total municipal waste generated, recovered and landfilled 2003-2012

	000 tonnes			% of waste generated
Year	Waste generated	Waste recovered	Waste landfilled	Waste recovered	Waste landfilled
2003	3,001.0	726.8	1,832.6	24.2	61.1
2004	3,034.6	919.0	1,818.5	30.3	59.9
2005	3,050.1	964.4	1,824.1	31.6	59.8
2006	3,384.6	1,119.7	1,980.6	33.1	58.5
2007	3,397.7	1,159.8	2,014.8	34.1	59.3
2008	3,224.3	1,165.1	1,938.7	36.1	60.1
2009	2,952.9	1,101.3	1,723.7	37.3	58.4
2010	2,846.1	1,084.9	1,495.6	38.1	52.5
2011	2,823.2	1,202.6	1,344.0	42.6	47.6
2012	2,692.5	1,450.7	1,027.6	53.9	38.2
Source: Environmental Protection Agency, National Waste Report series

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 3.6 (XLS 12KB)

The quantity of municipal waste generated in Ireland increased each year between 2003 and 2007, rising from 3,001,000 tonnes to 3,397,700 tonnes, an increase of 13.2%.
However between 2007 and 2012 the quantity of municipal waste generated dropped each year, falling to 2,692,500 tonnes by 2012, a decrease of over a fifth.
Waste recovered as a percentage of waste generated rose from 24.2% in 2003 to 53.9% in 2012.
Waste landfilled as a percentage of waste generated was close to 60% between 2003 and 2009 before falling sharply over the next three years to reach 38.2% by 2012.
Thus 2012 was the first year in Ireland that the percentage of municipal waste which was recovered (53.9%) exceeded the percentage landfilled (38.2%).

	% waste landfilled in Ireland	% waste recovered in Ireland
2003	61.0668187040656	24.2172317641759
2004	59.927383355643	30.2842317484609
2005	59.8044230065586	31.6180511020796
2006	58.5178895268755	33.0821371822895
2007	59.2992342134331	34.1350267226224
2008	60.1281339932841	36.1351879690387
2009	58.4	37.3
2010	52.5	38.1
2011	47.6	42.6
2012	38.1652739090065	53.8792943361189

EU: Municipal waste generated and treated

3.7 EU: Municipal waste generated and treated, 2012¹

	kg per person		% of municipal waste
Country	Generated	Landfilled	Recycled	Incinerated	Landfilled
Germany	611	3	64.5	34.9	0.5
Sweden	462	3	47.6	51.7	0.6
Belgium	456	5	57.2	42.1	1.1
Netherlands	551	8	49.5	49.0	1.5
Denmark	668	17	45.2	52.2	2.5
Austria	552	18	59.2	33.2	3.3
Luxembourg	662	116	46.8	35.8	17.5
France	534	152	38.8	32.8	28.5
Finland	506	166	33.4	33.8	32.8
EU	487	160	41.3	23.6	32.9
Estonia	280	98	31.8	12.5	35.0
United Kingdom	472	172	45.6	16.5	36.4
Ireland	588	224	36.6	15.9	38.2
Italy	529	215	38.2	19.8	40.6
Slovenia	362	153	39.5	1.4	42.3
Portugal	453	247	26.0	19.4	54.5
Czech Republic	308	174	23.1	20.1	56.5
Poland	314	186	19.4	0.3	59.2
Spain	463	293	27.2	9.5	63.3
Hungary	402	263	25.4	9.2	65.4
Bulgaria	460	318	25.2	0.0	69.1
Slovakia	324	240	13.0	9.6	74.1
Lithuania	469	361	19.8	0.6	77.0
Romania	271	212	2.6	0.0	78.2
Cyprus	663	522	21.1	0.0	78.7
Greece	503	406	17.1	0.0	80.7
Malta	589	485	12.2	0.5	82.3
Croatia	391	323	14.6	0.0	82.6
Latvia	301	254	15.6	0.0	84.4

Switzerland	694	0	50.0	50.0	0.0
Norway	477	9	39.8	56.2	1.9
Iceland	338	167	42.6	7.7	49.4
Turkey	390	326	0.8	0.0	83.6
Macedonia	381	381	:	:	100.0
Source: Eurostat
¹Comparability between countries may be affected by different waste management practices.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 3.7 (XLS 14KB)

38.2% of municipal waste was landfilled in Ireland in 2012, above the EU average of 32.9%. Germany, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Austria all had very low landfill levels (less than 4%) because they recycle and incinerate much of their waste while Switzerland has no landfilled waste at all.
More than a third (36.6%) of municipal waste generated in Ireland in 2012 was recycled, below the EU average of 41.3%.
The highest recycling rate was in Germany where nearly two-thirds of municipal waste was recycled, while the lowest rate was in Romania at just 2.6%.
The rate of incineration in Ireland, at 15.9%, is also below the EU average rate which was 23.6% in 2012.
Ireland had the sixth highest amount of municipal waste generated per person in the EU in 2012, at 588kg per person.

Show Map - 3.7 EU: Municipal waste generated, 2012

EU: Passenger cars per 1,000 population aged 15 and over

3.8 EU: Passenger cars per 1,000 population aged 15 and over, 2008-2012

cars per 1,000 population aged 15 and over
Country	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Luxembourg	828	817	814	818	816
Italy	716	717	722	727	:
Cyprus	699	703	683	:	661
Malta	681	672	687	700	702
Lithuania	615	627	633	659	685
Finland	613	626	645	664	678
Austria	609	615	623	629	638
Slovenia	604	606	604	606	605
France	596	599	:	:	:
Germany	581	583	590	597	605
Belgium	579	581	586	592	591
Spain	568	558	560	562	560
Sweden	560	558	556	561	:
Netherlands	560	562	566	572	572
United Kingdom	550	563	556	553	553
Ireland	542	530	521	545	543
Greece	526	537	547	:	:
Poland	499	511	532	555	573
Czech Republic	499	496	501	511	525
Latvia	494	486	349	343	353
Estonia	484	481	489	510	538
Denmark	470	:	:	:	:
Croatia	424	420	416	418	398
Bulgaria	362	386	404	421	442
Hungary	358	353	350	348	352
Slovakia	342	350	366	383	399
Romania	230	245	251	253	263
Portugal	:	:	524	525	475

Switzerland	622	615	617	623	616
Norway	573	551	584	592	599
Turkey	131	135	140	148	155
Source: Eurostat

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 3.8 (XLS 21KB)

In 2008 the number of cars per 1,000 population aged 15 and over varied from 230 in Romania to 828 in Luxembourg.
The number of private cars per 1,000 population aged 15 and over in Ireland fell from 542 in 2008 to 521 by 2010 but has since climbed back to 543 in 2012.

EU: Share of road transport in total inland freight transport

3.9 EU: Share of road transport in total inland freight transport, 2008-2012

% of inland freight
Country	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Latvia	38.7	30.2	38.1	36.2	35.8
Estonia	55.3	47.3	45.8	48.5	53.0
Romania	70.2	60.0	49.2	50.2	53.3
Austria	58.6	59.5	56.3	56.0	54.6
Netherlands	59.9	63.8	59.5	58.3	56.2
Belgium	68.5	72.9	67.9	66.3	58.3
Sweden	64.9	63.2	60.7	61.8	60.3
Lithuania	58.0	59.9	59.1	58.8	62.3
Germany	65.5	67.0	64.9	65.8	64.6
Finland	74.1	75.7	75.0	73.9	73.0
Croatia	72.7	73.7	71.2	74.0	73.6
Bulgaria	66.9	67.4	68.1	73.6	74.7
EU	76.3	77.5	76.2	75.6	75.1
Hungary	74.7	78.8	75.1	75.9	75.1
Slovakia	73.8	77.9	74.8	76.6	77.6
Czech Republic	76.7	77.8	79.0	79.2	78.2
France	80.7	81.0	82.2	81.1	80.6
Poland	75.9	80.5	80.6	79.4	81.9
Slovenia	82.2	84.0	82.3	81.4	82.1
Italy	88.3	90.4	90.4	87.8	85.9
United Kingdom	88.3	87.8	88.7	88.0	87.8
Denmark	91.3	90.8	87.0	86.0	88.0
Luxembourg	93.3	94.6	93.5	93.7	93.2
Portugal	93.9	94.3	93.9	94.0	93.2
Spain	95.7	96.4	95.8	95.4	95.2
Greece	97.3	98.1	98.0	98.3	98.7
Ireland	99.4	99.3	99.2	99.0	99.1
Cyprus	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Malta	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Switzerland	53.1	55.5	54.4	54.1	53.9
Norway	85.0	84.0	85.0	84.3	85.3
Macedonia	84.3	89.0	89.0	91.8	92.2
Turkey	94.5	94.6	94.4	94.7	94.7
Iceland	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Source: Eurostat

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 3.9 (XLS 12KB)

Road transport accounted for 99.1% of total inland freight transport in Ireland in 2012. This was the highest proportion in the EU among countries with a rail network, (neither Cyprus nor Malta have railways).
Only 35.8% of inland freight was transported by road in Latvia while the EU average was 75.1%.

Go to next chapter>>> Education - Education

Measuring Ireland's Progress 2013

Environment - Environment

EU: Net greenhouse gas emissions

Gross inland consumption of energy divided by GDP

Ireland: Particulate matter in urban areas

Ireland: Greenhouse gas emissions

Ireland: Air pollutant emissions

Ireland: Total municipal waste generated, recovered and landfilled

EU: Municipal waste generated and treated

EU: Passenger cars per 1,000 population aged 15 and over

EU: Share of road transport in total inland freight transport

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