Friends of the Earth Pre-Budget Submission 2025

This submission outlines Friends of the Earth’s priorities for Budget 2025. Ireland is unlikely to meet the targets of its first carbon budget for the period from 2021 to 2025 despite legally-binding sectoral ceilings on emissions applied across the economy. The cost of this lack of compliance requires much greater scrutiny in the context of Budget 2025. Failing to cut emissions now will also result in fossil fuel lock-in, which will become increasingly difficult and costly to undo. Friends of the Earth is calling for new budgetary measures and investments in support of the urgent implementation of known policies and solutions for reducing fossil fuel use. These measures will not only align the state with its climate obligations but will fundamentally enhance quality of life and protect those most at risk.

Specifically, we are calling for:

• Substantial increases in investments in energy efficiency, particularly targeting low-income households and social housing, to reduce energy poverty and ensure a just energy transition.
• Expanding the Warmer Homes Scheme to include HAP tenants with long-term leases,
• Piloting a network of Local Community Energy Advisors.
• Reinstating the Warmth and Wellbeing Scheme.
• Piloting a targeted retrofitting programme for rural households.
• Fully subsidising the cost of heat pump technical assessments and introducing a boiler scrappage scheme for oil boilers.
• Decarbonising and expanding public transport, including increased funding for rural transport and introducing measures to reduce the dominance of large, fuel-inefficient vehicles.
• Managing aviation demand growth by capping airport capacity, introducing climate taxes on air tickets, and applying carbon taxes to aviation fuel.
• Supporting a just transition in agriculture with financial and technical assistance for farmers to ensure sustainability and resilience.
• Examining the introduction of an Energy Guarantee Scheme and a Social Tariff for low-income households.
• Restoring the value of core social protection payments to support those most at risk of energy poverty.