Aoife O’Leary claims Dublin Airport is on course to exhaust its carbon budget

Aoife O’Leary claims that Dublin Airport will exhaust its fair share carbon budget by 2034, 16 years ahead of the 2050 target
Expansion could raise annual emissions by more than 65pc
The campaign is times to prevent the Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026 removing the 32m passenger cap
The draft legislation exempts the Minister from Climate Act obligations
O’Leary recommends aligning capacity with carbon budgets and introducing aviation fuel taxes

Activist Aoife O’Leary has claimed that Dublin Airport is on track to exhaust its fair share carbon budget of approximately 27 million tonnes of CO2 by 2034 if expansion continues.

A report titled Overshoot has found that permitting further growth could raise annual emissions linked to the airport by more than 65pc. The analysis covers 20 major European airports and identifies Dublin among the worst performing against a budget aligned with limiting warming to 1.7 degrees.

The findings arrive as legislation enabling the passenger cap to be raised or removed progresses through the Irish system. The Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026 would grant the Minister for Transport authority to amend or eliminate the 32 million annual passenger limit. The draft legislation exempts the Minister from obligations under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015.

Lobby gorups including Friends of the Irish Environment have warned that the proposed legislation bypasses core national climate laws. The report recommends aligning permitted passenger capacity with independently assessed carbon budgets, implementing a localised tax on aviation fuel, introducing VAT on airline tickets, and reallocating public funds toward cleaner transport alternatives.