Why Labour’s election In the UK could speed up EV adoption in Ireland

It’s been 36 days since the UK held its General Election, with Labour voted in after 14 years out of power. In that time the party has lurched violently towards the right in many of its policies, and in the days after the election it became clear that Labour is eager to partner with big business.

However, there may be one hidden benefit of Labour’s election win for Ireland: The ability to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles five years before the EU’s deadline.

This could offer significant benefits for reducing Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions, providing cleaner air, improved public and planetary health, and reducing the amount of fines that we’ll have to pay for our non-compliance with emissions reduction targets.

2035 ICE Phaseout

While it was long-planned that the EU would effectively ban the sale of new combustion engine vehicles in 2030, hard lobbying from European car companies and oil brands led to the deadline being pushed back to 2035.

Frankly, neither of these deadlines are aligned to climate science. Ending the sale of vehicles that are entirely reliant on fossil fuels must happen sooner rather than later if we are to avert the worst outcomes of the Climate Emergency, and also make an impact on reducing the 1,300 premature deaths due to air pollution in Ireland each year.

This is particularly important when the average life expectancy of a new car sold in Ireland today is around 13 years. That means every car sold in 2024 will be locking in vast and harmful emissions until at least 2037.

And any new petrol or diesel car sold in 2035 – no matter how efficient – will be actively contributing to worsening the Climate Emergency until almost 2050, the critical threshold for the world having reached net zero emissions in order to restrict average temperatures to no more than 1.5°C.

The reversal of the deadline, coupled with a rise in misinformation and climate denial – as well as a significant reduction in Government subsidies – has set back EV adoption over the past 12 months in Ireland, and as a result 83% of all new cars sold this year are entirely reliant on fossil fuels.

However, Labour’s election could be about to Ireland’s outlook for the better.

Labour plans

How? A key aspect of their manifesto was to reinstate the UK’s ban on internal combustion engine vehicles in 2030.

Last year, more than 1.9 million new cars were sold in the UK, compared to 121,000 here in Ireland. As the single biggest market for right-hand-drive vehicles, the UK is the trendsetter that Ireland has to follow.

As such, it simply wouldn’t be economically viable for car manufacturers in Europe to manufacture right-hand-drive cars solely for the Irish market. The demand and the profits just aren’t there.

In practical terms, we may have accidentally stumbled our way into having our transport emissions reduced for us.

This has significant consequences not only for our health, but also for reducing the fines that we are almost certain to face due to non-compliance with emissions reduction targets.

The recent EPA report assessing Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions between 1990-2023 showed that greenhouse gas emissions from transport actually rose last year compared to 2022.

And, as a result of missing multiple deadlines to reduce our emissions, we now need to cut emissions from the sector by 12.4% this year and next year in order to hit our 2025 targets. Failure to meet this – which looks overwhelmingly likely – would mean that the cuts would need to become more severe in each subsequent year.

Failure to comply with our 2030 targets will cost the Irish taxpayer €5 billion. With subsequent fines for each year of non-compliance thereafter.

We shouldn’t be reducing emissions to avoid economic penalties, our Government should be doing it because it is in the best interests of the people of Ireland and all life on this planet. However, in an era where the cost of living has been increasingly stretched, too many of us are already in energy poverty and without the means to reduce our carbon footprint, or the necessary financial support from the Government to make a dent on emissions either on a personal or national scale.

Having the taxpayer pay for the Government’s inaction on the Climate Emergency would only compound energy poverty and simply shows that whatever we spend now, we will reap the rewards in the future.

Let us hope that Labour stick to their manifesto and provide the people of Ireland with some hope for a vital form of climate action that we so badly need.

What To Read Next