Budget 2025: Climate supports welcomed, but ‘much more is needed’

Funding to support household retrofitting will ease the cost-of-living and benefit the environment, but the budget did not go far enough to tackle climate change, environmental groups have said.

“Extending free public transport for children under nine and loved ones travelling with anyone over 70 is important to continue to ensure a focus stays on making public transport attractive,” Green Party councillor for Cork City North East Oliver Moran told The Echo.

“It comes with continuing reduced fares for everyone and the decision earlier this year to allow free public transport for anyone who cannot drive for medical reasons.

“Continuing grants to retrofit homes is also very significant for climate, quality of life, and the cost of living,” Mr Moran said, and that “€469m from the carbon tax is being ringfenced for SEAI home-energy grants; €240m will be allocated to the ‘Warmer Homes’ fund that upgrades low-income households for free.”

“That’s now 10 times what it was in 2020, and another €90m will be used to retrofit about 2,500 local authority homes in 2025.”

Mr Moran added: “Here in Cork, €99m will allow the Port of Cork to develop multi-purpose infrastructure needed to deliver offshore wind energy. That will put Cork at the centre of the Irish offshore wind sector, both economically and in terms of national climate ambition.”

It was also announced that €3bn has been allocated to an Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund for “investing in the climate transition and preparing for a greener future” between 2026 and 2030.

Budget needed to go further 

Bernie Connolly, from the West Cork-based Environmental Forum, told The Echo that this was good news, but the budget needed to go further to help the environment.

Ms Connolly said: “The investment in the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund is welcome, as is the additional transfer of €6.5bn from the National Reserve Fund.

“The infrastructure, including the grid to support energy transition and additional funds to address urgently-needed wastewater treatment to improve water quality, are also positive, as is the continued support for active and public transport.”

Ms Connolly also welcomed additional resources for agri-environmental schemes, but added that there was “very little there for marine environment”. 

Despite these positives, she said that “much more is needed and we would worry about the effective use of the funds and the agility to disburse in a timely manner”.

She gave an example of the Community Climate Action programme, which, she said, “has been very slow, from its announcement to projects receiving monies”.

Other climate measures include €469m towards home-energy upgrades, such as retrofitting and installing solar PV panels, and €48m from the EU’s RePowerEU fund towards deep retrofits of HSE sites.

Questioned

But climate groups, including Friends of The Earth, have questioned the priorities, saying that more could be done for retrofitting and that several of the supports were not targeted enough.

“Budget 2025 is a missed opportunity in key areas where we wanted to see a step-change in policy and investment,” said programme co-ordinator Clare O’Connor.

Renters are “locked out of retrofitting opportunities”, she said, adding that people on housing assistance payments should be eligible for the warmer homes scheme of fully funded retrofits and that the budget for retrofitting social housing should have been increased.

Ms O’Connor added: “We are flabbergasted at the astronomical cost of the untargeted, universal energy credit of €250 to every household.

“That will cost €500m, more than the total retrofitting budget for the coming year. The €250 untargeted energy credit is just not an efficient use of taxpayers’ money.”