The Climate Change Advisory Council has today (September 3) called on the government to improve supports for solar photovoltaic (PV) installations.

It believes that these grants are critical to increase energy efficiency, reduce energy costs, lower emissions, and support resilience in households.

In particular, the council has recommended funding to increase delivery of retrofitting and solar PV for local authority housing.

This month (September 2025), the council submitted its annual review of built environment, industry, and waste to the Minister for Climate, Energy and Environment, Darragh O'Brien.

In the review, the council calls for the accelerated implementation of the EU solar rooftop standard, which mandates the deployment of suitable installations in new non-residential and public buildings with a floor area greater than 250m² by 2026, and phased implementation in existing commercial and public buildings up to 2030.

According to the council, the potential for the accelerated deployment of suitable solar energy installations in buildings should be outlined in Ireland's National Building Renovation plan.

With increasing challenges around global competitiveness, the council has recommended an accelerated rollout of solar PV for commercial and public buildings to help manage energy costs.

The chair of the council, Marie Donnelly said: "Government must urgently take action to increase the availability of grants for households focused on the uptake of heat pumps and maintain the level of grants for the installation of solar PV.

"This will not only help achieve our climate targets, but it will also reduce energy costs for consumers and improve the warmth of people’s homes.

"We need to adapt, now, to our changing climate. Recent storms, including Storm Éowyn, highlight how vulnerable our communities are to extreme winds and flooding. To increase community resilience, we need to ensure that planning guidelines are properly followed so that new housing is not built in locations at risk from future flooding and does not lead to increased vulnerability and maladaptation," Donnelly added.

The leader of the Green Party, Roderic O'Gorman has called on the government to use Budget 2026 to provide greater financial support to households seeking to retrofit their homes.

O'Gorman was speaking after the council made the call for the government to increase investment in solar power and heat-pumps for home.

He said: "When families retrofit their homes, they cut their fuel bills, they’re houses are warmer and more comfortable, and they reduce their emissions too.

"The Climate Change Advisory Council has singled out the ‘built environment’ – home, public buildings and commercial businesses – as an area where our emissions actually increased last year.

"That is why the government needs to use Budget 2026 to increase investment in retrofit, make it cheaper for families, and increase the numbers of homes making a switch," O'Gorman added.