The Galway City Council met this week to discuss the local authority’s inaugural Climate Action Plan (CAP ), which was unanimously approved by councillors.
Council officials calculate the local authority accounts for 1 per cent of Galway’s carbon emissions, and this new plan spells out how to reduce this by 90% in the coming years, with a target of carbon neutrality before 2050.
Councillor Martina O’Connor (GP ), chair of the council’s Climate Action committee, welcomed the “well thought out” plan, but warned of the danger of making people feel “preached at” regarding environmental issues ahead of this summer’s local elections.
Over 100 submissions from the public were made to the Council’s draft plan over three public events last year, and 30 suggestions made it to the final document. City officials welcomed this consultation and pointed out they received substantially more public interactions than colleagues in other local authorities.
The City Council aims to retrofit its stock of housing, with a target of 150 houses per year. So far it has completed 64 deep retrofits, 2,000 “shallow” retrofits, upgraded doors and windows in 317 properties, and installed 320 new gas/oil boilers. This has generated a 33% energy saving across Council-owned houses.
It is also looking at using land it owns, especially landfill, for solar farms as part of its 2050 Energy Master Plan.
Several councillors made political points regarding climate transition, with Noel Larkin (Ind ) calling on the government to scrap VAT on electric vehicles. Mayor Eddie Hoare (FG ) suggested Council procurement was a method to influence private businesses to be mindful of environmental concerns. He said the Planning Regulator should assist the local authority in reducing urban sprawl, and that rising population in the city and county would increase carbon dioxide emissions regardless of whether a ringroad was built or not.
Galway City Council is accepting applications until March for its Community Climate Action fund for community groups to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and help decarbonise the city.
Severe flooding events, heatwaves and droughts all pose a significant risk in the coming decades, according to the CAP.
Councillor Colette Connolly (Ind ) criticised adoption of the CAP without funding allocated to all elements, and was disappointed it included no analysis of drainage in the city. She pointed out that Lloyds of London refused to insure flood-prone buildings in Galway city centre as early as 1901, and questioned the point of retrofitting if flooding is still a likelihood.
A sea-level rise of up to just 24cm – less than a school ruler - by 2050 “will increase the frequency of coastal inundation," while a projected increase in heavy rainfall days by up to 37% "will likely result in an increased frequency of associated fluvial and pluvial flooding" according to the Council’s projections.
