On a stifling hot summers evening in late June, the Irish branch of the Transport Planning Society held an evening event on the Transport Sector’s role in tackling Greenhouse gas emissions. The transport sector is responsible for over 25% of total greenhouse gas emissions, with two thirds of these emissions coming from road transport. The event examined the trends in greenhouse gas emissions and some of the de-carbonising technologies, policies and initiatives being delivered across Ireland and the UK. 

To start the evening, Laura Behan, Head of the Climate Change Unit of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport; provided an interesting snapshot of transport emission levels and trends in Ireland,  national level targets which have been set by the European Union  and the development of appropriate Irish policy responses to secure transport decarbonisation and cleaner air. This was followed by Ian Gourley, recently-appointed Transport Fleet Engineer with the National Transport Authority (NTA); who provided an overview of the NTA’s strategy for transitioning Ireland’s public transport fleet to one that consists of lower- emission vehicles, with a particular emphasis on the aim to reduce and ultimately eliminate tailpipe emissions from the public bus fleet. To wrap up the evening,  Dr David Connolly, Director of Innovation at SYSTRA Ltd, provided insights into the design and delivery of EU-compliant ‘Clean Air Strategies’ for UK towns and cities.

Following the three presentations, questions were asked of the panel and interesting contributions made by the attendees, with debates on the future direction that policy and initiatives should take in addressing transport emissions.

To download the presentations click on the following links

Developing Climate and Air Quality Policy in Transport, L Behan

Public Transport Fleet Re...ment_NTA presentation.pdf1

Modelling for Clean Air Zones, Dr D Connolly.pdf