AmCham Responds to Draft National Biomethane Strategy

AmCham welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Department of Environment, Climate, and Communications’ consultation on its National Biomethane Strategy.

Significant progress needs to be made in a relatively short space of time if Ireland is to reach its goals of a 51% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. As it stands, the Environmental Protection Agency has predicted that Ireland will fall short of these targets, achieving only a 29% reduction in GHG by 2030.

AmCham has continuously highlighted the need for action in the renewable energy space to ensure that Ireland meets its targets. Indeed, access to renewable energy will be key in ensuring Ireland’s competitiveness into the future. Industry has ambitious goals within this space- a recent survey of AmCham members found that 42% have committed to reaching carbon neutrality by 2030, with this rising to 64% by 2040. Efforts should be made to ensure that there is a secure source of renewable energy to facilitate this. The Department’s publishing of a draft National Biomethane Strategy is therefore a positive step in the right direction. However, specific timelines and further detail of the policies that will be put in place to achieve Government targets of 5.7TWh of Biomethane by 2030 are needed.

You can read the full submission here