Environment Measuring Ireland's Progress 2016

EU: Net greenhouse gas emissions

3.1 EU: Net greenhouse gas emissions, 2015
	1990=100		%
Country	2015 emissions index	Kyoto target index	Above/below target
Lithuania	42	92	-54
Latvia	44	92	-52
Estonia	45	92	-51
Romania	48	92	-48
Slovakia	56	92	-40
Bulgaria	59	92	-35
Hungary	65	94	-31
Czech Republic	65	92	-29
Sweden	77	104	-26
Greece	93	125	-25
United Kingdom	66	88	-24
Croatia	75	95	-21
Finland	80	100	-20
France	85	100	-15
Poland	83	94	-12
Belgium	82	93	-12
Denmark	71	79	-10
Italy	84	94	-10
Portugal	118	127	-7
Germany	73	79	-7
Ireland	109	113	-3
Netherlands	91	94	-3
Slovenia	91	92	-1
Spain	119	115	4
Austria	102	87	17
Luxembourg	89	72	24
Cyprus	144	:	:
Malta	99	:	:

Switzerland	93	92	1
Norway	106	101	5
Iceland	139	110	26
Source: Eurostat

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2016 Table 3.1 (XLS 22KB)

Under the Kyoto protocol, EU 15 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 not more than 13% above Ireland's 1990 emissions.

Between 2006 and 2008 the level of emissions from Ireland was in the range 124% to 126% of the 1990 level. However, Irish emissions fell sharply in 2009 to 113% of the 1990 level and decreased steeply again in 2011 to 104% before rising again over the next four years to stand at 109% in 2015, (see graph).

In 2015 Ireland was 3% below the Kyoto limit and ranked 21st among EU countries relative to the Kyoto limit. Three EU countries were above their respective Kyoto emissions limits in 2015 - Luxembourg, Austria and Spain.

	Ireland	Kyoto target
2006	126.3	113
2007	125.26	113
2008	123.72	113
2009	112.8	113
2010	111.97	113
2011	104.33	113
2012	104.72	113
2013	104.84	113
2014	104.94	113
2015	109.17	113

EU: Energy intensity, 2011-2015

3.2 EU: Energy intensity, 2011-2015
				kgoe per €1,000 GDP
Country	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Ireland	80	80	78	71	59
Denmark	76	73	72	66	65
Luxembourg	111	109	102	94	90
Malta	140	143	122	114	91
United Kingdom	106	108	104	95	94
Italy	107	106	104	98	100
Austria	109	108	110	105	106
Sweden	131	132	128	123	111
Germany	118	118	120	114	112
Spain	120	123	117	113	113
Netherlands	125	127	127	119	118
EU 28	130	130	128	121	120
France	126	126	126	120	121
Cyprus	139	134	124	128	128
Greece	135	145	132	131	132
Portugal	134	131	134	131	134
Belgium	153	147	152	142	141
Finland	187	183	182	186	178
Slovenia	201	198	196	184	178
Croatia	207	202	197	188	191
Lithuania	236	230	209	202	205
Latvia	231	231	221	216	207
Slovakia	250	236	237	220	215
Romania	285	274	243	234	227
Poland	265	253	250	233	227
Hungary	259	250	237	227	232
Czech Republic	275	275	276	261	249
Estonia	390	370	398	385	355
Bulgaria	490	468	426	446	449

Norway	87	90	98	82	85
Turkey	176	177	160	161	161
Albania	242	225	250	244	224
Montenegro	352	341	306	295	301
Macedonia	425	412	373	351	336
Serbia	537	487	487	442	486
Iceland	612	559	561	548	504
		Source: Eurostat

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2016 Table 3.2 (XLS 13KB)

Ireland's energy intensity improved from 80 in 2011 to 71 in 2014 and sharply improved in 2015 when it stood at 59. The sharp improvement in the energy intensity ratio in 2015 is linked to the step change in GDP in Ireland in 2015, see table 2.1.

The energy intensity 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 2014. Two countries had energy intensity ratios above 300 - Estonia and Bulgaria.

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 a higher energy intensity.

	Energy intensity
Ireland	59.4
Denmark	65.1
Luxembourg	90.2
Malta	90.8
United Kingdom	93.5
Italy	100.2
Austria	106.4
Sweden	110.9
Germany	112.2
Spain	113.4
Netherlands	117.9
EU	120
France	120.5
Cyprus	128
Greece	132.1
Portugal	133.6
Belgium	141.3
Finland	177.7
Slovenia	177.9
Croatia	190.9
Lithuania	204.9
Latvia	206.9
Slovakia	214.7
Romania	226.6
Poland	227.3
Hungary	231.8
Czech Republic	249.2
Estonia	355.1
Bulgaria	448.5

Norway	85
Turkey	160.9
Albania	223.6
Montenegro	301.1
Macedonia	336.3
Serbia	486.1
Iceland	503.7

Ireland: Particulate matter in urban areas

3.3 Ireland: Particulate matter in urban areas, 2007-2016
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
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
2014	14	1	19	5	21	10
2015	14	4	17	3	18	10
2016	14	2	18	7	17	12
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, 2016 Table 3.3 (XLS 12KB)

The average readings for particulate matter (PM10) in Dublin were in the region of 17 to 19 µg/m3 between 2007 and 2010.

However, in 2011 the average readings for particulate matter in Dublin dropped to 14 µg/m3 and remained at about this level over the next five years.

The level for Cork was 15 µg/m3 in 2007 and rose to 22 in 2010 before dropping back to stand at 18 in 2016.

The average readings for particulate matter in towns other than Dublin or Cork have been more variable, ranging from a high of 27 µg/m3 in 2010 to a low of 17 in 2016.

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 Dublin in the 1990s but has not been broken since then 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
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
2014	1	5	10	35
2015	4	3	10	35
2016	2	7	12	35

Ireland: Annual average fine particulate matter concentrations

3.4 Ireland: Annual average fine particulate matter concentrations, 2009-2016
				PM_2.5 (µg/m^3)
Year	Dublin	Cork	Towns > 15,000	Rural
2009	11	11	10	:
2010	12	15	16	:
2011	12	12	14	9
2012	11	9	12	9
2013	11	11	12	17
2014	9	8	16	13
2015	10	7	12	10
2016	10	7	12	12
Source: Environmental Protection Agency
¹ The locations of the monitoring stations are contained in Appendix 1.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2016 Table 3.4 (XLS 12KB)

The annual average readings for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Dublin were in the range of 9 to 12 µg/m3 between 2009 and 2016.

The level for Cork rose from 11 µg/m3 in 2009 to 15 in 2010 before declining to 7 by 2016. It should be noted that there was a change of sampling locations in 2014.

The annual average readings for fine particulate matter in towns other than Dublin or Cork have been more variable, ranging from a low of 12 µg/m3 in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016 to a high of 16 in 2010 and 2014.

All observed concentrations for years 2009 to 2016 were below the EU limit value of 25 µg/m3.

However, there have been exceedances of the World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline value of 10 µg/m3.

Ireland: Greenhouse gas emissions

3.5 Ireland: Greenhouse gas emissions, 2006-2015¹
	000 tonnes CO₂	000 tonnes N₂O	000 tonnes CH₄	000 tonnes CO₂eq.	000 tonnes CO₂eq.
Year	Carbon dioxide	Nitrous oxide	Methane	HFC, PFC, SF_6,NF₃	Total greenhouse gases
2006	47,485	24	538	1,178	69,311
2007	47,576	23	512	1,175	68,546
2008	47,252	23	504	1,037	67,883
2009	42,069	23	489	1,038	62,240
2010	41,630	24	479	1,012	61,692
2011	37,965	22	477	1,016	57,567
2012	38,144	23	489	996	58,124
2013	37,123	24	503	1,123	57,922
2014	36,633	24	515	1,194	57,758
2015	38,393	24	531	1,143	59,878
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 CO₂equivalents, see Appendix 1 for more details.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's progress, 2016 Table 3.5 (XLS 13KB)

Total greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland fell from 69.3 million tonnes of CO2 in 2006 to 57.6 million tonnes in 2011 and then rose slightly to 58.1 million tonnes in 2012.

Emissions decreased slightly over the following two years to 57.8 million tonnes in 2014 before rising to 59.9 million tonnes in 2015.

Between 2006 and 2015 total greenhouse gas emissions fell by 13.6%. There were decreases in two of the main greenhouse gases over this time period, with carbon dioxide emissions falling by 19.1% and methane falling by 1.3%.

The other greenhouse gases (HFCs, PFC, SF6 and NF3), (which are estimated to comprise around two per cent (in terms of CO2 equivalent) of the total greenhouse gas emissions for Ireland), decreased by 3% between 2006 and 2015.

Ireland: Air pollutant emissions, 2006-2015

3.6 Ireland: Air pollutant emissions, 2006-2015
	000 tonnes SO₂	000 tonnes No_x	000 tonnes NH₃	000 tonnes CO	000 tonnes PM_2,5	000 tonnes PM₁₀
Year	Sulphur dioxide (SO₂)	Nitrogen oxide (NOx)	Ammonia (NH₃)	Carbon monoxide (CO)	PM_2,5 emissions	PM₁₀ emissions
2006	63	133	110	200	19	29
2007	57	130	107	187	18	28
2008	48	117	108	177	18	28
2009	34	94	109	157	17	27
2010	28	86	107	144	16	26
2011	27	77	103	133	15	25
2012	25	79	104	127	15	25
2013	25	78	105	119	15	25
2014	19	77	106	112	14	24
2015	18	80	108	109	14	24
Source: Environmental Protection Agency, CSO

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2016 Table 3.6 (XLS 15KB)

All the main air pollutants decreased between 2006 and 2015.

Sulphur dioxide emissions fell by 71.4% over the 2006-2015 time period, from 63 million tonnes of SO2 to 18 million tonnes. This was accounted for mainly by the electricity and gas supply sector.

Nitrogen oxide emissions, which occur largely in power generation and road transport, fell by 39.8% between 2006 and 2016.

Ammonia emissions, which are caused mainly by agricultural activity, fell by 1.8% over the 2006-2015 period. Emissions from carbon monoxide fell by 45.5% over the same time period, driven mostly by more efficient cars and a reduction in the use of solid fuels by households.

Emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2,5), which in Ireland arise principally from fuel combustion for household heating, decreased by 26.3% between 2006 and 2015. Larger particulate matter (PM10) emissions fell by 17.2% and these emissions in Ireland arise mainly from agricultural activities, such as the use of certain fertilisers, and household heating.

Ireland: Total municipal waste generated, recovered and landfilled

3.7 Ireland: Total municipal waste generated, recovered and landfilled 2004-2014^1,2
	000 tonnes			kg	% of waste generated
Year	Waste generated	Waste recovered	Waste landfilled	Waste generated per person	Waste recovered	Waste landfilled
2004	3,034.6	919.0	1,818.5	750	30.3	59.9
2005	3,050.1	964.4	1,824.1	738	31.6	59.8
2006	3,384.6	1,119.7	1,980.6	800	33.1	58.5
2007	3,397.7	1,159.8	2,014.8	776	34.1	59.3
2008	3,224.3	1,165.1	1,938.7	719	36.1	60.1
2009	2,952.9	1,101.3	1,723.7	651	37.3	58.4
2010	2,846.1	1,084.9	1,495.6	625	38.1	52.5
2011	2,823.2	1,202.6	1,344.0	617	42.6	47.6
2012	2,692.5	1,450.7	1,027.6	586	53.9	38.2
2013	:	:	:	:	:	:
2014	2,619.0	2,038.6	536.5	564	77.8	20.5
Source: Environmental Protection Agency, National Waste Report series
¹ Municipal waste data for 2013 was not collected.
² The methodology for estimating municipal waste generated was revised for 2014, see Appendix 1.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2016 Table 3.7 (XLS 13KB)

The quantity of municipal waste generated in Ireland increased each year between 2004 and 2007, rising from 3,034.6 thousand tonnes to 3,397.7 thousand tonnes, an increase of 12%.

However, between 2007 and 2014 the quantity of municipal waste generated dropped each year, falling to 2,619 thousand tonnes by 2014, a decrease of 23%.

The amount of waste sent to landfill fell sharply between 2004 and 2014, dropping from 1,818.5 thousand tonnes to 536.5 thousand tonnes, a decrease of 70%.

The quantity of waste generated per person decreased by a quarter over the 2004 to 2014 period, from 750 to 564 kg per person.

Waste recovered as a % of waste generated rose from 30.3% to 77.8% between 2004 and 2014. Over the same time period, the proportion of waste generated that went to landfill fell from 59.9% to just 20.5%.

	% waste landfilled in Ireland	% waste recovered in Ireland
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
2013	null	null
2014	20.4849179075983	77.8388697976327

EU: Municipal waste generated and treated

3.8 EU: Municipal waste generated and treated, 2016^1,2
	kg per person		% of municipal waste
Country	Generated	Landfilled	Recycled	Composted	Incinerated	Landfilled
Sweden	443	3	32.5	16.3	50.3	0.7
Belgium	420	3	33.3	20.0	44.5	0.7
Denmark	777	8	28.6	19.2	51.2	1.0
Netherlands	520	7	25.2	27.7	45.4	1.3
Germany	626	9	48.1	17.9	32.4	1.4
Austria	564	15	25.5	32.1	37.6	2.7
Finland	504	16	29.2	12.9	54.8	3.2
Estonia	376	38	25.3	2.7	48.9	10.1
Luxembourg	614	105	28.8	19.7	34.4	17.1
Ireland	564	115	33.0	6.9	34.1	20.5
United Kingdom	485	109	27.2	16.3	31.3	22.5
France	510	115	23.3	18.2	35.9	22.5
Slovenia	449	102	46.3	7.6	17.1	22.7
EU 28	480	117	29.2	16.5	27.1	24.4
Italy	495	123	26.3	19.0	18.0	24.8
Lithuania	444	132	24.5	23.4	17.3	29.7
Poland	307	112	27.7	16.3	19.5	36.5
Portugal	453	222	16.3	14.1	20.8	49.0
Czech Republic	339	169	26.8	6.8	16.5	49.9
Hungary	379	192	26.9	7.9	14.8	50.7
Spain	443	251	18.3	11.5	13.5	56.7
Latvia	410	263	15.1	10.2	0.0	64.1
Bulgaria	404	260	22.8	9.2	3.7	64.4
Slovakia	348	228	15.5	7.5	10.3	65.5
Romania	247	178	5.7	7.3	2.4	72.1
Cyprus	640	481	13.4	3.9	0.0	75.2
Croatia	403	309	19.1	1.7	0.0	76.7
Greece	497	410	13.7	3.4	0.6	82.5
Malta	647	536	7.1	0.0	0.3	82.8

Switzerland	720	0	31.1	21.5	47.5	0.0
Norway	754	32	28.0	10.2	53.6	4.2
Iceland	656	375	25.5	7.6	3.8	57.2
Serbia	268	211	0.4	0.0	0.0	78.7
Turkey	426	359	8.7	0.5	0.0	84.3
Montenegro	533	488	5.6	0.0	0.0	91.6
Macedonia	385	385	:	:	:	100.0
Source: Eurostat
¹ Comparability between countries may be affected by different waste management practices.
² 2015 data used for Romania, Slovenia, United Kingdom and Montenegro and 2014 data used for Ireland and Portugal.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2016 Table 3.8 (XLS 15KB)

The amount of municipal waste sent to landfill in Ireland was below the EU average for 2016. About a fifth (20.5%) of municipal waste in Ireland was landfilled compared with 24.4% in the EU.

Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany all had very low landfill levels (1.4% or less) because they recycle and incinerate much of their waste, while Switzerland has no landfilled waste at all.

About 40% of municipal waste generated in Ireland was recycled or composted, below the EU average of 45.6%.

The highest recycling rate was in Germany where just under half of municipal waste was recycled, while the lowest rate was in Romania at 5.7%.

The rate of incineration in Ireland, at 34.1%, was above the EU average. The highest rate of incineration was in Finland at 54.8% while there was no incineration in Croatia, Cyprus or Latvia

Ireland, along with Austria, had the joint sixth highest amount of municipal waste generated per person in the EU at 564 kg per person. Denmark had the highest waste generated per person at 777 kg while the lowest amount was in Romania at just 247 kg.

EU: Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2011-2015

3.9 EU: Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2011-2015
cars per 1,000 inhabitants
Country	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Luxembourg	658	663	661	662	661
Italy	625	621	608	610	:
Malta	592	592	602	619	634
Lithuania	570	590	615	413	431
Finland	551	560	570	580	590
Cyprus	545	549	553	565	575
Austria	537	542	546	547	546
Germany	534	539	543	547	548
Slovenia	519	518	516	518	523
Belgium	487	488	491	494	497
France	486	490	498	489	484
Spain	476	476	474	474	481
Poland	476	492	510	526	546
Netherlands	470	472	471	:	:
Greece	469	470	469	471	474
Denmark	468	:	:	:	:
Sweden	464	465	466	470	474
United Kingdom	448	449	:	:	463
Portugal	447	406	415	453	:
Czech Republic	436	448	450	459	485
Estonia	433	456	478	497	514
Ireland	428	425	431	436	436
Bulgaria	368	385	402	418	:
Croatia	355	339	341	349	358
Slovakia	324	337	347	360	375
Latvia	299	305	317	331	345
Hungary	299	301	308	315	325
Romania	216	224	235	247	261

Switzerland	523	529	531	532	535
Norway	477	484	489	495	501
Macedonia	152	146	:	:	185
Turkey	109	114	121	127	134
Source: Eurostat

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2016 Table 3.9 (XLS 13KB)

The number of cars per 1,000 inhabitants in Ireland rose from 428 in 2011 to 436 by 2015.

This ratio of cars per 1,000 inhabitants in Ireland is not high by EU standards and was the seventh lowest in 2011.

The number of cars per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015 varied from 661 in Luxembourg to just 261 in Romania.

EU: Modal split of inland freight transport

3.10 EU: Modal split of inland freight transport, 2015
% of inland freight
Country	Inland waterways	Railways	Roads
Latvia	0.0	56.3	43.7
Austria	3.9	43.6	52.5
Netherlands	39.1	5.3	55.6
Romania	20.0	20.8	59.2
Belgium	21.1	14.7	64.2
Germany	11.4	24.0	64.7
Lithuania	0.0	34.6	65.4
Estonia	0.0	33.2	66.8
Sweden	0.0	33.2	66.8
Finland	0.4	25.6	74.0
EU 28	6.3	17.9	75.8
Hungary	3.6	19.9	76.4
Croatia	6.5	16.2	77.3
Bulgaria	13.5	8.8	77.7
France	4.3	17.4	78.2
Slovakia	1.7	19.8	78.5
Czech Republic	0.0	21.1	78.9
Slovenia	0.0	18.9	81.1
Poland	0.0	16.2	83.7
Italy	0.0	15.1	84.9
Denmark	0.0	12.8	87.2
United Kingdom	0.1	12.1	87.8
Portugal	0.0	7.8	92.2
Spain	0.0	5.0	95.0
Luxembourg	2.5	2.2	95.2
Greece	0.0	1.5	98.5
Ireland	0.0	1.0	99.0
Cyprus	0.0	0.0	100.0
Malta	0.0	0.0	100.0

Switzerland	0.0	50.0	50.0
Norway	0.0	13.1	86.9
Macedonia	0.0	5.3	94.7
Turkey	0.0	4.6	95.4
Iceland	0.0	0.0	100.0
Source: Eurostat

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2016 Table 3.10 (XLS 12KB)

Virtually all of the inland freight transport in Ireland was on roads in 2015, with 99% of total inland freight travelling by road. This was the highest proportion in the EU among countries with a rail network, (neither Cyprus nor Malta have railways).

Just 43.7% of inland freight transport was moved on roads in Latvia while the EU average was 75.8%.

More than half (56.3%) of inland freight transport was moved on railways in Latvia in 2015, the highest proportion in the EU, while the average proportion in the EU was 17.9%.

The highest proportion of inland freight transport moved on inland waterways was in the Netherlands at 39.1% while the EU average was 6.3%. Fifteen countries, including Ireland, had no inland freight on inland waterways.

Go to next chapter >>> Education

Measuring Ireland's Progress 2016

Environment

EU: Net greenhouse gas emissions

EU: Energy intensity, 2011-2015

Ireland: Particulate matter in urban areas

Ireland: Annual average fine particulate matter concentrations

Ireland: Greenhouse gas emissions

Ireland: Air pollutant emissions, 2006-2015

Ireland: Total municipal waste generated, recovered and landfilled

EU: Municipal waste generated and treated

EU: Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2011-2015

EU: Modal split of inland freight transport

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