Highlights

Current trends

• Emissions from Commercial Services and Public Services both increased by 1.8% and 1.2% respectively
• Emissions have remained relatively stable over the last five years (2015-2019)
• Increases reported in seven out of the last eight years (2012-2019)

Cause

• Increases of 2.1% in natural gas use in both sectors in 2019
• There was a decrease in renewables use of 13.7% in public services
• Efficiency has grown over the timeseries as a result of less coal and oil and an increase in the use of natural gas

Outlook

• Emissions projected to decrease with the full implementation of the Climate Action Plan 2019

Commercial and public services sectors

The commercial/public services sectors estimate emissions from fuel combustion for space and hot water heating in commercial and public/institutional buildings in Ireland. Emissions from commercial services and public services increased by 1.8% and 1.2% respectively in 2019 compared to 2018 emissions due to an increase in natural gas use. The national commercial vacancy rate stood at 13.3% in Q4 2019, 0.1% higher than 13.2% in Q4 2018.

Under the With Existing Measures (WEM) scenario, emissions from the commercial and public services sector are projected to increase by 5.3% between 2020 and 2030 to 1.9 Mt CO₂ eq. Under the With Additional Measures (WAM) scenario emissions from the commercial and public services sector are projected to decrease by 31.8% between 2020 and 2030 to 1.2 Mt CO₂ eq. This scenario assumes full implementation of the Climate Action Plan.

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