THREAD: Big day in climate news here in - the 2020 emission estimates are out.

What went up? What went down? (1/11)

Emissions are expected to decline by 6% in 2020 compared to 2019. It’s the biggest drop seen since 2011, and it’s a result of COVID-19 restrictions. (2/11)

BUT - it’s still not enough to meet 2020 climate targets.

(Not a shocker really, as the EPA has previously said this was likely to be the case). (3/11)

The biggest fall is in transport - which is anticipated to plummet by 17%. There was also a considerable reduction in air pollution, particularly in , due to reduced levels of vehicle travel. (4/11)

Energy emissions are expected to drop by 14% compared to 2019 - this was due to the declining use of coal & peat-produced electricity.

& another thing: 40% of our electricity is projected to have come from renewable sources last year (5/11)

Residential emissions are anticipated to have risen by 9% - which could also lead to a greater exposure to bad air quality, particularly in areas where levels of solid fuel burning are high. (6/11)

Emissions from agriculture are estimated to increase slightly by 0.4% compared to 2019.

Provisional data also shows our population increased by 1.5% from June ‘20 to June ‘19, with a 4.2% increase in the number of dairy cows. (7/11)

& the report concludes by noting that reducing emissions benefits human health and well-being. Air quality would improve and using transport options like walking & are better for our health and our wallet. (8/11)

. @EPAIreland Director-General Laura Burke said that our COVID recovery should be a green one that generates new jobs and responds to climate change. (9/11)

“The emissions reduction in 2020 must be built on to achieve continual, substantial, year-on-year reductions, making the 2020s the decade of climate action,” Laura Burke said. (10/11)

Find out more by reading our deep dive in full (11/11). https://greennews.ie/2020-emissions-projections-deep-dive/