All policies / Buildings / IRL_P0028
Deployment of renewables in heating
Instrument affecting the Buildings sector, using a deployment support mechanism; in force since 2005.
About this policy
RED III requires Member States to increase the share of renewable energy in heat by at least 0.8pp as an annual average calculated for 2021-2025 and by at least 1.1pp as an annual average for the period 2026-2030. This aims to promote the use of renewable energy sources, such as biomass, solar thermal and geothermal, to replace traditional fossil fuel-based heating systems. Emission reductions for this PaM are underpinned by energy projections for renewable heat under the With Existing Measures scenario.
About this type of instrument: deployment support for renewable energy
Early deployment lowers future costs through learning-by-doing, a benefit that investors cannot fully capture. Long-term revenue certainty also lowers the cost of capital for projects with high upfront costs.
- Rapid scale-up of clean supply
- Lower financing costs through revenue certainty
- Auctions reveal costs and drive prices down
- Costs recovered from consumers through levies
- Poorly designed tariffs can over-compensate
- Grid and planning constraints limit delivery
Measurement in this dataset. The renewable-electricity portfolio uses the average of the OECD feed-in-tariff and auction scores as context. The two programmes can coexist, so neither is assumed to replace the other. Renewable heat has no OECD indicator and uses assumed timing. Bindingness is scored 0.5 (financial incentive).
Year by year
Filled markers use a matched OECD score; hollow markers use assumed timing. Shaded bands show the policy's status. Select a year on the chart or the slider to see how its intensity is built up.
Source records in the EEA registry
All EEA records linked to this policy. Records under the "with additional measures" scenario describe planned extensions; they are retained for traceability but are not treated as historical policy.
| PaM | Name as reported | Status | Scenario | Period | Ex-post kt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | Deployment of renewables in heating (With Existing Measures) | Implemented | With existing measures | 2005 | 1,892 |
| 67 | Deployment of renewables in heating (Not included in Projection Scenario) | Planned | Not included in a projections scenario | 2025 | – |
Data-quality notes
Methodological notes recorded for this series, grouped by theme.
Timing assumptions
- Implementation in some years follows an assumed ramp-up because no matching OECD score is available.
- The policy has no reported end date; its status after the reporting date is reconstructed as continuing.
Selection context
- A multi-sector reported saving was assigned once, to the primary sector, for ranking only.
- Policies were selected using recent (2024–2030) assessments, which can introduce retrospective selection bias.
Scoring conventions
- The unweighted equal-weight index remains positive before the policy starts; use the gated version for timing analysis.
- Bindingness is a normative score from the study rubric, not a measure of observed compliance.
- Coverage is an ordinal scope score, not a measured share of activity or emissions.
Aggregation warnings
- The row represents a portfolio of support schemes rather than a single legal instrument.
Sources
- European Environment Agency. Reporting on national policies and measures, Ireland (report 1849), PaM 28. https://pam.apps.eea.europa.eu/