Download Towards a Just Transition in the Built Environment
PRESS RELEASE
Tuesday, 10th November 2026
New report calls for fairer retrofit supports and stronger protections for renters and households experiencing energy poverty
The Just Transition Commission’s report on the built environment transition highlights need for investment in warmer homes, good jobs and stronger communities
A new report published today (10.11.26) by the Just Transition Commission of Ireland calls on Government to accelerate the move away from fossil-fuel heating while ensuring that the benefits of warmer, healthier and more energy-efficient homes reach households and communities facing the greatest barriers.
The report sets out eight recommendations covering retrofit funding, energy poverty, rental standards, workforce skills and community participation.
With approximately 90 per cent of Ireland’s heat demand currently met by fossil fuels, the report highlights the importance of accelerating building retrofit, improving energy efficiency and moving away from fossil fuel heating. However, it emphasises that the transition is taking place against a backdrop of significant pressures on housing supply, affordability and security, and that people have very different opportunities and resources to participate.
The Commission outlines that the transition must go beyond reducing emissions and improving energy performance. It must also address energy poverty, improve housing quality, reduce households’ exposure to volatile fossil fuel prices, create good-quality employment and ensure that supports reach those who need them most. The report builds on the Commission’s earlier work highlighting the importance of fairness, affordability and public trust in delivering Ireland’s climate transition.
In the report, Towards a Just Transition in the Built Environment, the Commission sets out eight recommendations for the Government to help ensure that everyone can participate in and benefit from the changes needed to transform how Ireland heats, powers, builds and uses its homes and buildings.
The 8 recommendations for Government* are:
- Accelerate retrofit and target greater support at those who cannot afford to participate:
Expand fully funded retrofit and introduce greater financial support based on ability to pay, including options for households unable to meet upfront costs or take on additional debt, including low and middle-income households.
- Reform how Ireland identifies and responds to energy poverty and protect consumers as the energy system changes:
Improve the identification and monitoring of energy poverty so that welfare and retrofit supports can be better targeted; involve people with lived experience in shaping policy; and strengthen consumer protections and measures to ensure households experiencing energy poverty can benefit from the changing energy system, including initiatives such as EnergyCloud Ireland.
- Put a just transition at the heart of the National Building Renovation Plan and measure public investment against clear just transition indicators:
Urgently progress the National Building Renovation Plan; embed measurable just transition outcomes in building policy; and ensure public investment is assessed against indicators such as reduced energy poverty, improved housing quality, fair access to funding and the creation of good-quality jobs.
- Use public investment to improve the homes, communities and places where need is greatest:
Prioritise households experiencing energy poverty and those living in the poorest-performing homes, with sustained funding for local authority and Approved Housing Bodies retrofit, and a targeted national approach to Traveller accommodation. Look at area-based programmes that improve neighbourhoods and community facilities beyond individual homes.
- Introduce minimum energy standards for rental homes while protecting tenants:
Introduce progressively stronger minimum energy performance standards for private rental properties, accompanied by safeguards against rent increases, eviction and displacement to ensure tenants benefit from improvements.
- Create a national network of independent local energy advisers:
Establish locally based, independent energy advisers to provide practical, technical and administrative support to households before and after retrofit, particularly those who face the greatest barriers to participation.
- Build the workforce needed to deliver the transition and ensure green jobs are good jobs:
Develop a coordinated approach to identifying future skills needs, expanding training and apprenticeships, and ensuring public investment supports decent work and accessible opportunities for SMEs, self-employed workers, and underrepresented groups.
- Give communities a meaningful role in shaping and benefiting from the transition:
Ensure people and communities can influence decisions about retrofit, heating, regeneration and local investment from an early stage, and are supported to move beyond consultation to developing and delivering projects themselves, in line with the next iteration of the National Dialogue on Climate Action currently in development.
Commenting on the Built Environment report, Chair of the Just Transition Commission Ali Sheridan said: “We have an opportunity to transform Ireland’s homes and buildings in a way that delivers real and lasting benefits. The scale of the challenge is significant, but so too is the opportunity to improve the lives of people and communities. Around 90 percent of Ireland’s heat demand is still met by fossil fuels, leaving households exposed to volatile international energy prices and making the transition to warmer, more energy-efficient homes increasingly important.
“We are already seeing progress, but delivering the scale of change needed will require greater investment, more skilled workers and a focus on those facing the greatest barriers. This is also an opportunity to create good-quality jobs, reduce energy costs and build stronger communities.
“But crucially, a Just Transition approach means looking beyond the number of homes retrofitted or emissions reduced. We must also measure whether we are reducing energy poverty, improving housing quality and ensuring that public investment reaches those who need it most. Fairness must be at the heart of climate action, not something considered afterwards. A Just Transition is about ensuring that faster action delivers fairer outcomes and lasting improvements in people’s lives.”
The full Towards a Just Transition in the Built Environment report is available to read at www.JustTransitionCommission.ie.
Ends
Media contact: Abigail Bennett / Maisie Lynch, Alice Public Relations, Email: media@alicepr.com, Tel: 086-227 7174 / 086-896 6298 / 01-558 2151
Notes to Editor
*Note: The order of the list of 8 recommendations does not indicate or imply importance.
Media Spokespeople
Ali Sheridan, chair of the Just Transition Commission, is the media spokesperson via Alice Public Relations on the contact details above.
Dr Diarmuid Torney ─ Director of the DCU Institute for Climate and Society and an associate professor in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. Independent Expert.
About the Just Transition Commission
The Just Transition Commission is an independent advisory body established on an administrative basis by Government Decision of 30th April 2024. The Commission provides the Government with impartial, strategic, and evidence-based advice to inform policy planning related to a just transition across sectors and to support the Government and wider societal stakeholders in managing this transition. The Commission is also a voice and advocate on planning for a just transition, leading in developing a shared understanding and identifying the challenges, solutions and opportunities for Ireland.
Just Transition Commissioners
- Ali Sheridan ─ chair of Just Transition Commission of Ireland. Independent Expert.
- Brian Flynn ─ director and chair of An Síolán, a community development company in west Offaly, current environmental representative of the PPN on Offaly LCDC, and promoter of community renewable energy projects. Independent Expert (appointed March 2026).
- Conor Minogue ─ senior policy executive with Ibec. Business Pillar.
- Dr Diarmuid Torney ─ director of the DCU Institute for Climate and Society and an associate professor in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. Independent Expert.
- Evan Boyle ─ senior postdoctoral researcher with the MaREI Centre Energy, Climate and Marine coordinated by the Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork. Independent Expert.
- Michelle Murphy ─ research and policy analyst with Social Justice Ireland. Community and Voluntary Pillar.
- Oisín Coghlan ─ policy analyst and advisor, specialising in climate and environment, Oisín currently works with the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, the Irish Environmental Network and The Wheel, and former chief executive of Friends of the Earth Ireland. Environmental Pillar.
- Ryan McKinney ─ head of strategic change at Fórsa, Ireland’s second largest union. Trade Union Pillar.
- Suresh Kumar ─ deputy director for innovation and industrial transformation for the Scottish Government and former chief operating officer for the Max Planck Research Society. Independent Expert.
- Tanya Ward ─ chief executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance. Independent Expert.
- Vanessa Kiely O’Connor ─ farmer from Innishannon, Co Cork, nominated by ICMSA to the Just Transition Commission, chair of Teagasc’s Advisory and Education Committee representing the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS). Agriculture Pillar.