COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, December 13, 2021

QUESTION NO 21.

QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

To ask the Chief Executive if he has considered the final report of COP26 - the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow- and if the findings have any implications for his work on Climate Change and may we have a detailed statement in the matter? 

REPLY: 

The 26^th UN Climate Conference of the Parties (COP26) was hosted by the UK in Glasgow between October 31^st and November 13, 2021.

The summit brought together 120 Heads of State and Governments, making commitments to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

On the 13^th November, the participating countries agreed a new deal, known as the Glasgow Climate Pact, reaffirming the Paris Agreement temperature goal of limiting global average temperature to well below 2.0 °C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.

These limits on average global temperatures increases are also highlighted in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published the first report of AR6 on the 9^th August 2021. The IPCC report warns that it is only possible to avoid warming of 1.5°C or 2.0°C if massive and immediate cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are made.

The IPCC report is extremely concerning as it proposes that globally, we are unlikely to achieve the carbon reduction target necessary to limit temperature increases to those originally agreed in the Paris Agreement at COP21.

South Dublin County Council will continue to progress the actions outlined in the Climate Change Action Plan 2019-2024. Targets on energy efficiency improvements and carbon reduction have been updated to reflect targets outlined in the National Climate Action Plan 2021 targets legislated for in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021. SDCC surpassed the target of 33% improvement in energy efficiency by 2020 one year ahead of schedule. 

Our current targets on climate action are;

• A 50% improvement in the Council’s energy efficiency by 2030 (revised from 33% by 2020)
• A 51% reduction in the Council’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and net carbon zero by 2050 (revised from 40% reduction by 2030)
• Make Dublin a climate resilient region by reducing the impacts of future climate change related events.
• Actively engage and inform our citizens on climate change.

Many of actions presented in the CCAP relate to SDCC’s operations and our plans to decarbonise our own fleet and buildings and to improve the efficiency of our public lighting infrastructure by replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs. Phase 1 of the replacement programme (2014-2020) has been completed. 9,689 SOX lighting units have been replaced with more efficient LEDs. Phase 2 of the programme is underway and SDCC plan to replace a further 1,500 units in 2021. The energy performance of public lighting has improved by 34.5% since the baseline. This represents and absolute reduction of 9.8GWh of primary energy and 3,450 tonnes of CO_2.

SDCC will continue to replace older less efficient lighting in our buildings. To date, more than half of the lighting fixtures in County Hall have been replaced with LED units and a reduction of 68% in energy consumption has been achieved and 53 tonnes of CO₂ emissions have been avoided.

The Tallaght District Heating Scheme is being led by South Dublin County Council. The scheme will also operate as Ireland’s first not-for-profit heat utility and will make a significant contribution to reducing carbon emissions in the area, with annual saving of almost 1,500 tonnes of CO² in its first phase.