Cork City Council has produced a Draft Climate Action Plan, as part of our statutory climate-action requirements and our participation in the EU 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission. Our aim is to accelerate our city's journey towards a climate-neutral, thriving and resilient city.
This Draft Plan sets out what Cork City Council will do to reduce emissions from its own buildings and operations. However, because this is a plan for Cork City, the actions that residents, businesses, community groups, and public sector institutions will have to take are a vital contribution to the achievement of our vision of Cork as a climate neutral and resilient city.
We are facing an enormous task ahead, with the need to improve the quality and efficiency of our buildings, increase our use of renewable energy, protect our natural environment, and adapt to the changing climate. Some of that work has already begun, with the greening of our public spaces and expansion of our cycling network, a growing uptake of SEAI grants for renewable energy, a shift to electric vehicles, and the award-winning community gardens, but we have a lot more to do.
During 2023, we commissioned reports that established the state of our greenhouse gas emissions (a baseline from which we can track our progress), the risk that we're facing from climate change (based on the current climate science), and a household survey to understand what Cork City residents know about climate change and what actions they want to see taken to ensure we thrive into the future. We held a series of climate workshops for young people, communities, businesses, the public sector, and the city's Elected Members. We listened, and the concerns and ambitions from those workshops are reflected in the Draft Climate Action Plan.
But we know there are other voices out there, and we want to hear from as many as possible.
At the bottom of this page, you'll find reports on all the background information that helped us to write this Draft Climate Action Plan. With nine documents, there's a lot of information to absorb. The Summary Report outlines the main findings of our background research and consultations. The Executive Summary of the Draft Plan will give you an overview of what the Draft Climate Action Plan contains. The Annex of Actions gives you the details of what we propose to implement and support.
There are two important documents that detail the potential environmental impacts of the proposed climate actions: the Environmental Report for the Strategic Environment Assessment and the Natura Impact Assessment.
The Climate Action Unit staff from City Council will be at the city libraries on the week beginning 27th November to talk with you and give you any information we can help with. You can find details at Draft Cork City Council Climate Action Plan 2024-2029 | Cork City Council's Online Consultation Portal. You can also contact us at climateaction@corkcity.ie.
All submissions should include your name and address and, where relevant, details of any organisation, community group or company, etc, which you represent. The closing date for receipt of submissions is midnight on Wednesday 20th December 2023. Please note that LATE submissions will not be considered. You are strongly advised to make your submission as early as possible. Written submissions with respect to the Draft Climate Action Plan that are made within the period stated will be taken into consideration before the making of the Plan.
Should you have any queries please email us on: climateaction@corkcity.ie
UCC’s MaREI mapped the greenhouse-gas emissions of the city. Emissions were modelled and mapped for six sectors: road transport; households; commercial services & industry; public services; agriculture, fisheries, land use, land-use change & forestry; and waste handling & treatment. You can download a copy of the report at the end of this page.
This report provides an assessment of potential climate change risks for Cork City and the impacts of these for the delivery of services by Cork City Council. The assessment was carried out by KPMG for Cork City Council. You can download a copy of the report at the end of this page.
To inform the Cork City Climate Action Plan and to get an insight to what Cork people think about climate change, we also commissioned a household survey, Climate in the Cork Mind. The results largely aligned with the EPA's national survey (Climate in the Irish Mind). Of course, being Cork we had to have some differences! You can download a copy of the report at the end of this page.
This report is a summary of a series of conversations and workshops held with communities and other stakeholders, to inform the Cork City Climate Action Plan we are currently developing. You can download a copy of the report at the end of this page.
This is a summary of all the reports on this page: the Baseline Emissions Inventory, Climate Change Risk Assessment, the Residential Household Survey, and the Climate Conversations, all of which will inform the forthcoming Cork City Climate Action Plan. You can download a copy of the report at the end of this page.
