The National Heat Study provides a rigorous and comprehensive analysis of the options to reduce CO₂ emissions associated with heating in Ireland.

This summary report sets out the key insights from the National Heat Study. It details the challenges policymakers face across sectors and technologies and outlines the actions and decisions they can take now to deliver on the Climate Action legislation ambition. The report also identifies some areas that require immediate further investigation now and it highlights areas where there are interdependencies across policy goals.

  • Act Now

    Plan and prioritise district heating deployment - target the regulatory, planning and financing barriers to reduce the implementation cost and timelines for district heating projects.

  • Act Now

    Raise awareness of the competitive low-carbon heating options available for services sector buildings and industry; address the non-financial barriers preventing uptake.

  • Act Now

    Deliver plans for renewable deployment on the electricity grid.

  • Act Now

    Provide long term and stable policy signals.

  • Act Now

    Implement nationally appropriate sustainability governance and market development activities to deliver the bioenergy potential aligned with economy-wide emission reduction goals.

  • Decide Now

    The role of negative emissions in achieving economy-wide net-zero goals by 2050.

  • Decide Now

    Plot a path for carbon capture, utilisation and storage.

  • Decide Now

    The future role of the gas grid.

  • Decide Now

    Timetable for fossil fuel phase-out.

  • Decide Now

    The role of secondary heating in the residential sector.

  • Investigate Now

    What are the preferred routes for achieving net zero in the electricity sector, and what role has demand-side flexibility?

  • Investigate Now

    How does the economy develop in deep decarbonisation scenarios?

  • Investigate Now

    How can the delivery of green hydrogen be accelerated and its cost reduced?

  • Investigate Now

    How do the decarbonisation pathways perform in low probability / high impact events?

  • Investigate Now

    How can new business models help the industry sector meet the competitiveness challenges of decarbonisation?

Key Actions

The study has highlighted several areas where policy can act to deliver on the heat decarbonisation opportunities.

Download the summary report
The study highlights the absolute necessity of acting early and making the best use of technologies that are available now. Ireland aims to reduce emissions by 51% by 2030. This study shows that the current Climate Action measures are unlikely to deliver enough cuts from heat related CO2 emissions and that an unprecedented ramp up of effort and additional measures are needed if the heat sector is to deliver its share of the emissions cuts. The study provides direction as to the priority and extension of measures to decarbonise heat as quickly as possible.
William Walsh, CEO, SEAI

About the study

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the energy we use for heating and cooling is a difficult challenge. Over the last decade, many businesses and households have added insulation, installed more efficient technology and used less solid fuel. However, annual emissions from energy used for heating have been on an increasing trend since 2014, when Ireland emerged from the effects of the global 2008 recession. This trend must be reversed immediately if the heat sector is to meet its share of the required emissions reductions.

The Irish Government has published a Climate Action Plan that identifies actions to turn these trends around. The plan specifies actions that aim to keep emissions within the carbon budget limits for each sector. Several of the measures identified in the plan rely on the outcome of the work of this National Heat Study to inform the policy ambition.

Using the National Energy Modelling Framework (NEMF), developed by SEAI, the analysis models four separate pathways to get to net zero emissions from heat energy use by 2050 and compares these to a Baseline scenario. Each scenario represents a different energy system context and approach to decarbonisation.

Contact Us

If you have any queries please email: epssu@seai.ie