How Local Authorities Can Lead Ireland’s Climate Delivery – With the Right Environmental Data
Ireland’s next carbon budget begins in 2026, and local authorities will play a central role in achieving the national targets that the Climate Change Advisory Council warns we are currently missing. With the country set to overshoot the 2021-2025 carbon budget by 10 Mt CO₂eq, progress in the next five years will depend not only on policy ambition but on the quality of data available to guide decisions, demonstrate compliance, and engage the public.
This is why environmental monitoring is becoming essential infrastructure for local government. As councils accelerate Active Travel networks, revitalise urban centres, oversee major housing and retrofit programmes, and deliver Decarbonisation Zones, they need accurate, real-time insight into how these interventions affect air quality, noise levels and community wellbeing.
The recent launch of Limerick City and County Council’s real-time environmental dashboard (https://limerick.sonitussystems.com/) offers a clear example of what this looks like in practice. Built in partnership with the EPA and powered by Sonitus Systems technology, the network brings together 29 monitors across 15 sites, streaming high-resolution air quality and noise data into a single public platform. This allows engineers, planners, community groups and residents to explore trends, compare locations, and understand how transport, planning and land-use decisions shape environmental conditions across the city and county.
For councils, this type of system supports much more than compliance. It strengthens public engagement, builds trust around major projects, and creates a shared evidence base for mobility, housing and climate strategies. In Limerick, for example, sensors placed along key Active Travel routes are already helping the Council assess how walking and cycling infrastructure affects local air and noise levels – a practical feedback loop that will matter as Ireland moves towards more compact, low-carbon development models.
As Ireland steps into a more demanding climate period, the challenges facing local authorities will become increasingly data-led. Noise Action Plans, Air Quality Assessments, Decarbonisation Zone reporting, and emerging EU requirements all depend on trusted, continuous, easy-to-access environmental data. Sonitus Systems supports this work by providing councils with monitoring networks, cloud-based reporting tools and public dashboards that make environmental information meaningful and accessible – for decision-makers and communities alike.
Local climate action needs public confidence, clear evidence and ongoing engagement. Real-time monitoring helps deliver all three. And as councils take on a larger share of Ireland’s climate responsibilities, the ability to measure local environmental change – accurately and transparently – will be one of their most valuable tools.
Sonitus Systems offers both the hardware and software for a range of environmental parameters on a continual basis, with real-time information available through our Sonitus Cloud dashboard. For more details on our indoor and outdoor noise and air quality monitoring products and services, please contact the team at https://www.sonitussystems.com/contact-us