Full coverage: Environment

An Taisce’s challenge to Glanbia’s cheese factory raises many questions: Is litigation against individual projects the new policy battleground? How much of a facility’s supply chain should be scrutinised in the planning process? Experts offer varied answers.

When he started his low-carbon cement manufacturing company 20 years ago, Donal O’Riain freely admits that the timing was wrong. Now high-profile investors are injecting millions into Ecocem’s promise to fix one of the world’s worst-polluting industries.

From science to soul-searching, the industry is showing signs of a deep shift in addressing its environmental impact. The bad news is that the rest of the world has moved on, and rules are long set for the rest of this decade. The good news is that work taking place now will be useful to tackle the real challenge coming after 2030.

Increasingly conscious Irish consumers have attracted Vienna-based Refurbed here, but Brexit also had a role to play, according to its CEO and co-founder Kilian Kaminski.

From ending coal use to promoting offshore wind energy, integrating hydrogen fuel and channelling investment to the west coast, last week’s ESB announcement ticks all the boxes. It also hopefully marks a new departure from piecemeal policy.

As Ireland searches for a more sustainable housing model, the group that spearheaded greener living in Cloughjordan is often held as an example but it wasn’t spared by the recession’s credit crunch. Through sheer willpower, its inhabitants have kept it afloat.

Exclusive figures compiled by Greenpeace estimate the digital giant’s power demand for its expanding data hosting business in Ireland. The numbers add up, and they show AWS has a long way to go to its full renewable commitment

Directing pension savings towards ESG investment in Ireland is no mean feat, but there is now a widely shared expectation that Joe Biden’s election will make it more mainstream – and more profitable.

As budgetary caution evaporates under the Covid-19 shock, energy efficiency, buses and trains are getting funded like never before. Can these new environmental priorities survive into the future?

The Programme for Government has promised €9.5 billion to help households and farmers become greener, funded by a four-fold increase in carbon tax over the coming decade. Data compiled by tax officials shows this is unlikely to happen.