Harmful carbon dioxide emissions into the environment from the transport sector increased by a massive 67 per cent between 1997 and 2005, figures published today show.
Ireland's latest environmental accounts for the 1997-2005 period and released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show national emissions of CO2 increased in total by 17 per cent from 38.9 to 46.6 million tonnes.
Ireland's Environmental Accounts 1999-2005
The CSO said the most marked increase in emissions occurred in transport where emissions increased by 67 per cent between 1997 and 2005.
In the services sector there was a 29 per cent increase and a 6 per cent increase in the industrial sector. Emissions from the residential sector changed only marginally, the report said.
Certain gases considered more potent in terms of their potential to contribute to global warming, actually decreased during the period, mainly due to the drop in production and subsequent closure of one particular plant in the chemical sector, the report said.
Nitrous oxide and methane emissions were down by 11 per cent in the eight-year period.
"However the relatively large growth in emissions from the transport sector is notable where N2O emissions increased by 90 per cent between 1997 and 2005," the report said.
Farm animals are the main cause of methane (CH4) emissions but the CSO said a "unique production incident" in 2003 was responsible for a large increase in emissions of the gas that year. The report did not specify what that incident was.
The environmental accounts also estimate emissions of all greenhouse gases as a single figure in terms of the carbon dioxide equivalent.
Based on that measurement, emissions from agriculture, forestry and fishing have the highest level of total emissions. However, the report says greenhouse gas emissions in this sector were actually down by 12 per cent in the eight-year period due mainly to a decrease in livestock numbers.
The report reveals that residential electricity demand per household increased by 3 per cent between 1997 and 2005 while the greenhouse gas emissions per household declined by 22 per cent in the same period.
It said this reflected the fact that electricity generation has cleaner in recent years in terms of the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions. Also, less solid fuels used directly by the residential sector and changing patterns of occupancy had an impact on the figures.
"Transport in particular changed from having the fourth highest level of emissions in 1997 to the second highest in 2005. The services sector recorded a 24 per cent increase in emissions while the industrial sector's emissions decreased by 1 per cent over the period."
Under the Kyoto protocol of the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change, Ireland is committed to limit its increase in emissions of six greenhouse gases to 13 per cent above 1990 levels between the years 2008 to 2012.
But based on official estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency, national greenhouse gas emissions exceeded the Kyoto target in 1997 and were 23 per cent above the 1990 baseline level in 2005.