{"id":488646,"date":"2026-06-08T07:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T07:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/488646\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T07:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T07:25:08","slug":"scrappage-scheme-poses-its-own-environmental-issues-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/488646\/","title":{"rendered":"Scrappage scheme poses its own environmental issues \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Sir, \u2013 Your editorial welcomes the Government\u2019s new EV scrappage scheme as a contribution towards Ireland\u2019s climate goals (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/opinion\/editorials\/2026\/06\/04\/the-irish-times-view-on-the-pilot-scrappage-scheme-a-welcome-initiative\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/opinion\/editorials\/2026\/06\/04\/the-irish-times-view-on-the-pilot-scrappage-scheme-a-welcome-initiative\/\">\u201cA jumpstart for EVs\u201d<\/a>, June 5th). <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">But what exactly is environmentally beneficial about destroying a functioning car and replacing it with a newly manufactured one? <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">A typical new electric vehicle arrives with a substantial carbon footprint already attached. Depending on battery size and manufacturing methods, producing a new EV can generate 10-15 tonnes of CO2 before it has left the factory. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The emissions generated in manufacturing the older vehicle have already occurred. They have already entered the atmosphere and remain part of the climate problem. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Scrapping the vehicle does not erase them; it merely means that the environmental cost of producing that car is spread over fewer years of useful life than might have been otherwise. An older petrol car driven average annual distances may emit around 2 tonnes of CO2 each year. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">On that basis, it could take many years before the lower operating emissions of a replacement EV offset the emissions generated in manufacturing it. Such inevitable delays in the effectiveness of the scheme do not sit comfortably with the concept of dealing with a climate emergency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The scheme risks producing the curious spectacle of taxpayers subsidising the destruction of perfectly usable vehicles in the name of environmental protection. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">At a time when citizens are urged to reduce, reuse and recycle, it seems odd that the opposite principle should apply to cars. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">There may be good arguments for encouraging electric vehicles but subsidising the premature scrapping of functioning cars would seem to directly reward people for failing to reduce, reuse or recycle. \u2013 Yours, etc,<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">PAUL O\u2019SHEA,<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Planet Before Profit CLG,<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Dublin 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir, \u2013 Your editorial welcomes the Government\u2019s new EV scrappage scheme as a contribution towards Ireland\u2019s climate goals&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,39639,82],"class_list":["post-488646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-letter-of-the-day","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}