COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, October 14, 2019

QUESTION NO. 12

QUESTION: Councillor P. Gogarty

To ask the Chief Executive if a comparison has been carried out in relation to carbon emissions per capita for each city or county administrative area in Ireland and if so, where does South Dublin compare?

REPLY:

The total carbon emissions per capita for each city or county in Ireland is calculated using statistical and quantitative data sourced from several origins including each City or County Council, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The 2016 Census established that the population of South Dublin at over 278,000 people.

Currently, not all Local Authorities have produced a full range of documents similar to those published by the 4 Dublin LAs, and while many may have presented figures detailing their CO₂ emissions, an up to date study has not yet been made available. Some of the information presented has been extracted from EPA online sources to give a national perspective to accompany the DLA CO₂ emission figures.

The South Dublin County Council Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) presents several graphical descriptions of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions by both the County Council and Total emissions from the county in 2017 broken down by sector. The information in the CCAP was produced on behalf of SDCC by Codema, who carried out similar exercises for the other 3 Dublin LAs. The CCAP identified that in 2017, SDCC produced 11,800 tonnes of CO₂, predominantly through our use of electricity. Appendix II of the CCAP indicate that across the County, a total CO₂ equivalent of 1,877,910 tonnes were produced, primarily by the transport, commercial and residential sectors.

To compare these figures with the other DLAs

 

2017 CO₂ Emissions by LA

SDCC                                                                -              11,800 Tonnes

Dublin City Council                                             -              40,370 Tonnes

Fingal County Council                                          -             12,620 Tonnes

Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council              -              11,280 Tonnes

2017 CO₂ Emissions by County

SDCC                                                                                     -              1,877,910 Tonnes

DCC                                                                                        -              2,810,880 Tonnes

FCC                                                                                        -              1,976,230 Tonnes

DLR                                                                                        -              1,139,570 Tonnes

National Figure                                                                       -              60,740,000 Tonnes

2016 Population                               2016 Households

SDCC     -    278,749                     -              92,363

DCC       -    554,554                   -              240,553

FCC        -    296,020                   -              104,851

DLR       -     218,018                     -              78,601

National -  4,761,865

With specific reference to the question, the CO₂ emissions per capita are calculated as;

SDCC                     -              6.74 Tonnes/ Capita        -              20.33 Tonnes/Household

DCC                        -              5.07 Tonnes/Capita         -              11.68 Tonnes/ Household

FCC                        -              6.8 Tonnes/Capita           -              18.85 Tonnes/ Household

DLR                        -              5.23 Tonnes/Capita         -              14.5 Tonnes/ Household

Nationally            -              12.75 Tonnes/Capita

Whilst the figures presented can be used as a comparison tool, it is important to note that the numbers produced by each county represent significantly different situations. For example, Car ownership and transport facilities are different between the city and the county area. Heavy industry and high energy users are more likely to have been established in the county than the city. Higher population density offer greater opportunities for energy efficiencies than less densely populated areas.

In terms of rural Counties, a large percentage of the CO₂ equivalent emissions are produced by the agricultural sector (33.1% 2015, EPA), which accounts for 0.4% in South Dublin.

CO₂ equivalent is a representation of the effect of each Greenhouse Gas quantified in terms of CO₂, for summation purposes.