Achieving Ireland’s Climate Action Ambitions

By addressing climate action from an engineering perspective, this conference aims to encourage debate and discussion and to highlight areas that are of strategic importance as Ireland strives to reach its 2030 Climate Action Plan targets. Ireland’s decarbonisation pathway to 2030 as set out in the Climate Action Plan requires that ambitious targets be met in electricity, transport and heating by 2030. This programme of transformation is now urgent as the 2020 targets fell significantly short for transport and heating, while renewable energy in electricity was progressing. There is growing pressure politically and from civic society to accelerate progress to achieve the targets. With COP26 now scheduled to take place in Glasgow in November 2021, this conference provides a timely opportunity to identify how the challenges to implementing the Paris Agreement can be addressed in Ireland by green infrastructure and technologies and by economic and social strategies. Thought leaders from industry, academia and the public sector will present innovative ideas and discuss climate action strategies under the following headings: Policy outlook Planning electricity and heat Energy efficiency and buildings Sustainable transport and behavioural change A keynote address was given by Eamon Ryan TD, Minister for Transport and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications.