Addressing Trade-Offs in the Energy Transition

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There has been much progress made on Ireland’s energy transition. Harmful emissions have fallen, there are record levels of power being generated from renewable sources, and home solar energy adoption and retrofitting are happening at scale and at pace. Key structural, institutional, and legislative changes have progressed, and significant capital investment continues.

However, Ireland’s energy transition is not happening fast enough. Additional policy action and investments on numerous fronts are required, and any steps that can accelerate decarbonisation must be taken. This discussion paper argues that one of those steps should be a greater emphasis in the policy system on understanding, confronting, and resolving key trade-offs.