Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions are almost 75% higher than currently reported, according to a new study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

The new study looks at emissions on the basis of consumption rather than production, which is the conventional method for calculating a country's emissions.

However, according to the ESRI, as global trade volumes have expanded, many emissions embedded in trade are not fully captured in the production-based accounting method.

Using this method, agriculture's emissions would decrease approximately 50%, as emissions in exports are not included.

40% of imported emissions are intermediate inputs

The Global Emissions Impact of Irish Consumption looked at consumption-based emissions which are calculated by subtracting emissions embedded in export and adding emissions embedded in imports to the level of production-based emissions.

It found that a large share of imported emissions (40%) are in intermediate inputs and are exported again in final goods.

Consumption-based emissions are estimated at 107Mt CO2 equivalent (eq), while estimated production-based emissions are 61Mt CO2 eq.

Agriculture shows a high level of imported emissions, largely relating to grain imports. However, unlike some other sectors, the imported emissions are out-shadowed by domestic emissions.

The research found that households consume the largest share of total imported emissions in the consumption-based emissions method. Imported emissions from the EU, UK and US are high.

Policy gap

The most emissions-intensive imported goods are chemical, rubber, other mining products, trade, transportation equipment, high technological products, food, beverage and tobacco and textiles.

As production-based emissions are low for many of these products, climate policies focused on reducing production-based emissions will not reduce the consumption of these products or their associated emissions, says the ESRI.

The study found that almost 66Mt CO2 eq is emitted in other countries for Irish consumption.

If Ireland is committed to reducing its global carbon footprint, it would need to implement policies that tackle these emissions outside of our borders, the research concludes.