Sustainable Mobility and Freight - OECD Environmental Performance Review of Ireland 2021 - Launch presentation by Jari KAUPPILA (ITF) given on 10 May 2021

1. Sustainable Mobility and Freight
Environmental Performance Review of Ireland
Ireland 2021

2. Ireland’s mobility patterns and trends are a source of
rising GHG emissions
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2000=100
GNI and road transport trends
Economy (modified GNI)
Passenger cars
Bus, coaches
GHG emissions by road
transport
Road freight
Note: Based on data expressed in passenger-km and tonne-km. Modified GNI: Gross national income in constant prices, excluding highly mobile economic
activities that affect the measurement of the Irish economy
Source: CSO (2020), “National Income and Expenditure Annual Results 2019”, StatBank (database); EPA (2020), Ireland's Provisional Greenhouse Gas
Emissions 1990-2019 (website); OECD-ITF (2020), Transport Statistics (database).

3. Decarbonising transport is essential to meet national
climate mitigation goals
• The transport sector plays a key role in meeting the
binding target of cutting non-ETS emissions by 30% by
2030.
• Transport is the second largest contributor to GHG
emissions after agriculture, and accounts for more than a
quarter of Ireland’s non-ETS emissions.
• Private car use accounts for more than half of transport-
related GHG emissions and commercial vehicles account
for more than a quarter.

4. Private cars dominate mobility patterns
Private car
74%
Walk
13.5
13%
Bus
5%
Cycle
1%
Rail/DART/Luas
2%
Lorry/motorcycle/other
5%
One person journeys by mode, 2019
81.4% 14.9%
0 20 40 60 80 100
Iceland
Lithuania
Turkey
Slovenia
Greece
Estonia
Ireland
Latvia
Portugal
Norway
% of passenger-km
Modal split of land passenger transport:
European countries of the OECD with the highest
share of road transport, 2018
Passenger cars Buses and coaches
Source: CSO (2020), National Travel Survey 2019; EU Transport in Figures - Statistical Pocketbook 2020.

5. Travel demand management is essential to curb
excess car use and reduce congestion
• Consider introducing fiscal or regulatory policy instruments (such as
congestion charges or low-emission zones) to manage travel demand
 Investment in improved public transport is necessary to provide good alternatives
to car travel
 Address potential distributional impacts and provide income support to
vulnerable households
 Increase public acceptability
• Phase out parking subsidy in the form of free parking at a workplace
Traffic congestion is a major problem in urban areas, with associated
environmental impacts (such as local air pollution and noise)

6. The public investment gap between roads and sustainable
mobility has narrowed, but roads still dominate
18%
27%
30%
28%
31%
28%
23%
32%
39% 37%
34% 36% 34% 34%
81%
72%
69% 71%
69% 68%
72%
63%
57% 58% 60% 60% 62% 62%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Share of investment for road maintenance and sustainable mobility on
total land transport funding
Sustainable mobility
Road improvement/maintenance
Note: Percentage shares of gross expenditure for land transport. Sustainable mobility includes carbon reduction and public service provision.
Source: DPER (2020), "Gross Expenditure By Vote History" DPER Databank (database).

7. Ireland needs to prioritise public transport and active
mobility
• Follow through on the commitment to two-to-one spending on
public transport over roads and 20% of the transport capital
budget for cycling and pedestrian infrastructure projects
• Further increase investment in rail, public transport and active
mobility
• Re-allocate road and parking space to cyclists, pedestrians and
public transport
• Ensure that planning regulations promote compact settlements
with easy access to transport links

8. Ireland provides generous subsidies to buy electric
vehicles (EVs)
0.2 0.8 0.2 1.2
2.6 3.0
4.3
9.1
13.6
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
N. of vehicles
EUR millions
Electric vehicle (EV) purchase grant and new registrations of EVs
Annual grant expenditure Total electric vehicles supported (right axis)
Note: Grants from the Sustainable Energy Authority for the purchase of electric vehicles (2019 data up to July) and number of electric vehicles licensed for the first time.
Source: CSO( 2020), "Vehicle Licensing Statistics", StatBank (database); Kevany (2019), Spending Review 2019: Incentives for personal Electric Vehicle purchase.
Sales in electric cars have increased to 10% of new private cars licensed in August 2020. But
EVs are less than 3% of total passenger car fleet and below the target.

9. Ireland could enhance the cost-effectiveness and
fairness of its EV promotion strategy
• Increase the taxation of purchases and use of internal combustion
engine vehicles (ICEVs), with a view to equalising the difference in
purchase price or lifetime cost between EVs and ICEVs
• Continue to extend the charging points across the road network.
Taxation of
conventional cars
is not sufficiently
high to encourage
a shift to EVs
EV purchase grant
does not cover the
price differential
between an EV and
a conventional car
EV support is
costly & the shift
towards EVs will
reduce revenue
from fuel excise
and vehicle taxes

10. • Trucks and vans accounted for 27% of all transport GHG
emissions and about 5% of Ireland’s total CO2 emissions
in 2017
• Ireland has limited capacity and usage of rail for freight
transport
• Ireland lacks an integrated strategy to mitigate the impact
of freight
Freight sector plays an important role in reducing
GHG emissions from road transport

11. A more comprehensive approach is needed to shift to
low-carbon freight transport
• Develop a coherent strategy for the low-carbon transition
of the haulage sector
• Integrate road freight, rail and shipping and consider
rebalancing economic incentives in favour of rail freight
• Improve efficiencies of logistics operations and introduce
sectoral standards, such as mandatory eco-driving
training

12. Improving climate resilience of transport infrastructure
requires better prioritisation of assets
• Fill the information gap about exposure and vulnerabilities of
transport infrastructure to climate hazards
• Based on uniform criteria identify critical assets where
disruptions could be critical and that would require investment in
improved resilience
• Improve understanding of potential cascading impacts between
sectors in order to identify specific assets critical to the
functioning of other sectors
As infrastructure have a long
life, early action is needed to
integrate adaptation into
decision making
Ireland lacks criteria to
identify and prioritise
investment in adaptive
capacity of transport assets