The majority of the new Climate Action Plan's costs will fall to individuals, households and the private sector, not the State, the coalition leaders have confirmed.
The €125 billion plan was unveiled on Thursday, with a 51 per cent reduction in green house gases by 2030 among its key aims.
The CAP, containing 475 separate actions covering various sectors, also includes targets for an up to 80 per cent increase in the use of renewable electricity and an aim to have 845,000 electric vehicles on the road by the end of the decade.
However, speaking at a press conference following the publication of the plan, coalition leaders confirmed much of the funding for the new measures would not come from the State, according to The Irish Times.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Minister for Climate Change Eamon Ryan emphasised the private sector spending involved would happen in any instance, it will now just be repurposed on account of the plan.
"That €125 billion is primarily private investment," Mr Ryan said.
"It is an investment that will take place in any case, people buying cars, people improving their homes. A lot of what we want to do is [get people to] switch, from a combustion engine to an EV (electric vehicle); and from an ordinary refurbishment [of a house] to one that puts energy efficiency into the project," the Minister added.
Mr Martin said a "profound change" in lifestyle will be needed if the CAP targets are to be met, but added such changes would benefit this generation and generations yet to come.
It was confirmed the largest portion of public finances relating to the CAP will go to upgrading the national grid, while €35 billion had previoulsy been portioned to transport and €13 billion to climate action under the Government's National Development Plan (NDP) published in October.
The Taoiseach said grants and supports would be made available to ease the costs related to the CAP, such as funding towards the cost of purchasing electric vehicles or retrofitting homes, but the details of such schemes have not yet been outlined.
Criticism
In repsonse to the plan, Sinn Féin said it was "high on rhetoric and short on detail".
The party's spokesperson for climate, Darren O'Rouke TD said the Government's figures "don't stack up", adding: "Let’s remember that this plan is coming from parties that have not met one climate target in the last decade; other than their plan to increase carbon taxes."
"Many of the targets and measures are not new at all - they have been announced before and not delivered. That doesn’t inspire confidence and doesn’t bode well for the type of ambitious change we need to see," Mr O'Rourke said.
"The Government is throwing around a lot of large figures here, which obscures the fact that much of this isn’t going to be financed by them but will be coming out of the pockets of ordinary workers and families as ‘private finance’.
"It is extraordinary that they think people drowning in debt and facing sky high bills are going to be able to retrofit their homes and buy electric cars," he added.
Meanwhile, Labour's climate spokeperson, Ivana Bacik TD welcomed the plan, but said a clear timeline for its implementation must be offered.
"I’m concerned that many of the measures in this plan are too future focused, with little detail on the steps that will be taken today to achieve a greener tomorrow," Ms Bacik said.
"What is needed now is clear ambition for immediate and urgent action," she added.
