Committee on Climate Change

In the CCC’s December 2008 report Building a low-carbon economy, an analysis was carried out to assess where there was potential for reducing emissions within Northern Ireland. According to the analysis, there is potential to reduce emissions of GHGs in Northern Ireland by 2.2MTCO2 in 2020.

For further information on the analysis relating to Northern Ireland in the CCC’s inaugural report download the chapter and technical annex.

The Committee’s latest analysis recommending the level of the fourth carbon budget to the UK Government also provided an assessment of abatement potential in Northern Ireland through the 2020s:

• Low carbon heat in residential and non-residential buildings could reduce emissions by 1.3 MtCO2e per year by 2030 in Northern Ireland. The relative absence of gas as a counterfactual fuel in Northern Ireland makes low carbon options more attractive and results in a relatively higher share of low carbon potential in Northern Ireland.
• Northern Ireland has a relatively smaller industrial sector but our analysis finds around 0.5 MtCO2e abatement potential by 2030, including from increased use of biomass and biogas in industry. The Committee’s analysis of further options in particularly carbon-intensive industries found an additional 0.2 MtCO2e, primarily in the cement sector
• New analysis of agriculture abatement suggests emissions could be reduced by around 1MtCO2e in Northern Ireland per year by 2030 through a range of soil and livestock measures.