2023 Local Government Climate Action Key Performance Indicators Report

Executive Summary

This report presents the findings of the 2023 Climate Action Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for all local authorities. The reported data was gathered from local authorities, Enterprise Ireland, the Local Authority Services Network Training Group (LASNTG), and the LGMA Housing Delivery Coordination Office (HDCO).

The key findings for 2023 are:

Mainstreaming

Climate Action Staff

• All local authorities had at least one Climate Action Officer or Coordinator in place on December 31st, 2023.
• The total number of FTE climate action staff in place on December 31st, 2023, was 55, up from 28.5 in 2022.

Climate Action Teams

• 24 local authorities had a cross-departmental Climate Action Team operational at yearend 2023 and seven were working on reconstituting their teams.
• There was a total of 647 Climate Action Team members across all Climate Action Teams at year-end 2023, compared with 616 in 2022 and 544 in 2021.
  • 436 of the 2023 Climate Action Team members had participated in local authority climate action training.
• There was a total of 95 Climate Action Team meetings held across the sector over the course of 2023.
• 18 local authority Climate Action Teams had sub-groups in place at the end of 2023, and combined they held a total of 164 meetings over the course of 2023, an increase of 10 compared to 2022.

Mitigation

Active Travel

• There were 1,989 active travel projects being delivered by local authorities: 50% were completed, 9% under construction, and 41% at design stage on December 31st, 2023.

Social Housing Retrofit Energy Savings

• 30 local authorities completed retrofitting 2,445 social housing units in 2023 resulting in an estimated annual energy saving of 35,663.4 MWh/Yr. which equates to a saving of 10,373.3 tCo2/Yr.

Local Authority Greenhouse Gas Emissions

• Greenhouse gas emissions data was not available for 2023 but in 2022 there was an aggregate reduction of 25.4% compared to the baseline average for all local authorities between 2016 and 2018.

Adaptation

Climate adaptation actions being delivered

• The sector was implementing 2,488 adaptation actions detailed in the Local Authority Climate Action Plan/Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (2019 - 2024) on December 31st, 2023: 34% were completed, 58% were in progress, and 6% were not started.
• Climate Adaptation Actions completed rose from 13% in 2021, to 20% in 2022 and 34% in 2023.

Emergency Weather Events

• 272 Severe Weather Response Team meetings were held across 28 local authorities during 2023, an increase of 73 compared to 2022.
• There were 168 Severe Weather Emergency Response Plans activated during 2023. Rain accounted for 32% of activations, wind and coastal wind combined accounted for 37% of activations, snow/ice/low temperature for 20%, while thunderstorms accounted for 10% of activations.

Internal behavioural change and capacity building

Climate action training

• Local authority staff and elected members accessed 8,965 training places relating to climate action in 2023.
• Over the three-year period, 2021 to 2023, a total of 25,977 training places have been accessed.

SME support

• 554 businesses were supported by local authority Local Enterprise Offices under Green for Micro Programme in 2023, compared with 413 in 2022 and 293 in 2021.