How Ireland's climate policies built up, year by year
This site tracks, year by year, 34 core policies that aim to cut Ireland's greenhouse-gas emissions and were in force between 2000 and 2023. It combines the policies Ireland reports to the EU (EEA database) with the OECD's policy-stringency scores (CAPMF).
It also includes 5 residual bundles: one summary row per sector for smaller measures not listed individually.
How the dataset was built
Two very different sources were combined into one year-by-year record of policies.
- 1
Combine two sources
Ireland reported 104 policy records to the EU: 98 individual measures and 6 group records that summarise others. The OECD scores 56 policy categories (130 detailed indicators) for 1990–2023.
- 2
Screen candidates
Five eligibility tests screened 115 candidate policies, and 64 passed. The reason for every decision is recorded.
- 3
Select the core
The core holds the largest measures, which together reach 90% of each sector's reported savings. It also holds named instruments that the OECD scores ("OECD anchors"). Smaller eligible measures form one residual bundle per sector.
- 4
Score every year
Each policy is scored for every sector and year. The score combines an implementation level (OECD stringency or assumed timing), how much of the sector it covers and how compulsory it is ("bindingness"). The result is a 0–1 policy intensity index.
Read the full methodology, selection flow and validation checks
Emissions context
Compare each sector's 2023 emissions (left) with its number of policy series (right): the largest emitter has few policies.
Agriculture is Ireland's largest source of emissions. Most of it is methane from livestock and nitrous oxide from fertiliser and manure. Yet only two agricultural policies were selected individually; a third series bundles the smaller eligible agricultural measures.
Energy-related sectors, by contrast, are covered by many overlapping instruments.
The gap reflects both policy history and the sources used. The OECD framework has no direct stringency scores for agriculture, waste or land use. Keep this in mind when comparing sectors.
Environmental Protection Agency, final greenhouse-gas inventory 1990–2024 (March 2026), values for 2023. Dashboard sectors aggregate EPA categories as noted. National total excluding LULUCF: 54.99 Mt CO₂e. LULUCF was a net source of 2.97 Mt CO₂e.
Where the policies sit
Darker cells hold more policy series. Select a cell to list them, or hover over a heading for its meaning.
A policy that covers several sectors (for example the carbon tax) appears once in each sector it affects.
Four layers of policy
Each row sits at one of four levels, from broad laws to smaller measures. The layers overlap, so do not add them together.
Framework
Umbrella laws and governance: climate acts, carbon budgets, the advisory council. They set direction but do not cut emissions on their own, so they are never added to instruments.
Instrument
A legal or economic lever that directly changes behaviour: a tax, a trading system, a building code or an obligation.
Programme
A delivery scheme that implements policy on the ground, usually grants or support programmes run by agencies such as SEAI.
Residual bundle
One summary row per sector for the smaller eligible measures that were not selected individually. Its members are listed separately; do not count both.
Policies in force
Active series rose from 7 in 2000 to 43 in 2023, with all of the growth after 2004.
Where implementation values come from
Dark bars use OECD scores; orange bars use assumed timing. The orange share shows how much rests on assumptions.
How to read the data
- Intensity is not emissions saved. It is a relative 0–1 index of how strongly a policy bears on its sector. No tonnes are estimated.
- Reported savings are for selection only. They repeat across years and sectors, so never add them up.
- Some rows overlap. Frameworks, portfolios and residual bundles repeat other rows. Check each policy's "aggregation role" before combining rows.
- Some timing is assumed. Where no OECD score matches, the dataset assumes a gradual ramp-up. These years are hatched on the timeline.
- Selection uses recent assessments. See the main caveat at the top of this page.