What does success look like

Background on Sustainability

Figure 4: Policy hierarchy which influences TII’s organisational policies

The Climate Crisis Climate change remains a global concern, with projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicating under current trajectories, global temperatures are expected to rise beyond 1.5°C in the early 2030s, crossing the threshold set by the Paris Agreement (2015) to stay below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Exceeding these thresholds is expected to result in significant and widespread impacts for many regions. In response, the Government of Ireland and numerous other countries have pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, aiming to protect both our future and that of generations to come.

Policy and Legislative Context TII’s organisational policies and commitments are shaped by global, European and national policy frameworks as illustrated in Figure 4. These frameworks, such as the EU Green Deal, establish binding requirements, shared ambitions and national targets that guide how sustainability is addressed across the transport sector.

The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 facilitates Governmentapproval of plans related to climate change, such as the Climate Action Plan 2025 (CAP25), which requires all public bodies to submit annual updates on the progress of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. In response to this, TII reports on sustainability within its Annual Report and annual Climate Action Roadmap.

TII Policy Our 2024 Sustainability Statement commits TII to embedding sustainability across the development, operation and management of the National Road, light rail, and greenway networks. This commitment ensures TII delivers safe and resilient infrastructure, creates better accessibility and sustainable mobility for people and goods, enables economic efficiency, and enhances environmental systems for current and future generations. The Statement of Strategy 2026-2030 reaffirms this through TII’s vision: to support the advancement of a connected and sustainable future for Ireland through a safe, efficient and integrated transport network. Sustainability underpins the Statement of Strategy. As a public body, TII is directed and governed by external stakeholders such as the Department of Transport and is required to consider the wider national and international sustainability context that informs and shapes its approach to project delivery.

The SIP enables alignment with this Act to deliver and report on sustainable activities, demonstrating how TII embeds sustainability throughout its projects and activities. Regular reviews of the SIP also ensure that TII remains cognisant of updates to climate guidance and legislation, ensuring alignment with national and international legislation and continuing to contribute to national climate objectives. The SIP provides the framework to ensure sustainability is integrated into all of the work that TII undertakes. This ensures that delivery across the organisation is consistent with internal expectations while supporting the achievement of national policies, objectives and wider societal outcomes. A full policy review to support this iteration of the SIP is provided in Appendix A.

TII Sustainability Implementation Plan | Our Future| 2026