GHG emissions 10.3% lower in 2023 than 2018 - CSO
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2023 were 10.3% lower than in 2018, new data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has revealed today (July 29).
However, the CSO noted that the National Climate Ambition is for 2030 emissions to be 51% lower than 2018.
According to the CSO, agriculture was the sector with the highest GHG emissions in Ireland over the 2018-2023 period, accounting for 38% of the total C02 equivalent in 2023.
Meanwhile, the transport industry had a 21.4% share of GHG emissions in 2023, while the energy sector was the third largest sectoral contributor of emissions with 14.3% of the total.
Commenting on the release, statistician in the sustainability and circular economy division, James Hegarty said: "While Irish enterprises are making progress in terms of increasing the use of clean energy, with a 7% rise in the use of electricity in 2023, there is further progress to be made in reducing the use of fossil fuels to lessen environmental emissions.
"In 2023, transport fuels, solid fuels and petroleum fuels accounted for 54% of business energy use."
"There is a significant journey to go to meet Ireland's emissions reduction targets.
"Final 2023 emissions data, released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in March 2025 shows that greenhouse gas emissions were 10.3% lower than in 2018, with a distance still to travel to the National Climate Ambition of a 51% reduction from the 2018 figure by 2030," Hegarty added.
Final greenhouse gas territorial emissions for Ireland for 2023, show a reduction of 6.8% compared to 2022, with emission reductions in almost all sectors, according to the CSO.
It said that in total, 54.9 million tonnes of of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2eq) were emitted, excluding emissions from land use, land use change and forestry.
Elsewhere, the CSO revealed, using standard International Labour Organisation (ILO) criteria, an estimated 2,706,400 persons were in employment in Ireland in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023, up 18.2% (416,000) from 2,290,400 in Q4 2018.
Average weekly earnings were €928.00 in Q4 2023, an increase of 23% when compared with €756 in Q4 2018, according to preliminary estimates of the Earnings and Labour Costs quarterly release.
