Explore how Ireland’s updated Transport Sectoral Adaptation Plan is helping protect critical infrastructure from the impacts of climate change.
When Storm Amy struck Ireland in October 2025, it left some 184,000 properties in the Republic without power and brought transport services to a standstill.
As the first named storm of the 2025-26 season, it underscored a growing reality: extreme weather is becoming more frequent, more damaging and more disruptive.
Vital to the mobility of Ireland’s five million residents, the transport sector now faces increasing pressure to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Against this backdrop, we worked with the Department of Transport to update its Transport Climate Change Sectoral Adaptation Plan for 2025-2030. This 5-year strategy sets out how the entire transport sector can adapt to climate risks, protect critical services, and strengthen national resilience.
What is Ireland’s Transport Climate Change Sectoral Adaptation Plan – and why does it matter?
The Transport Climate Change Sectoral Adaptation Plan (T-SAP II) is Ireland’s statutory plan for adapting the national transport system to the impacts of climate change.
Developed in line with the National Adaptation Framework (NAF) and the National Climate Change Risk Assessment (NCCRA), the plan addresses growing risks such as flooding, coastal erosion, heat-related impacts and more frequent extreme weather.
Spanning all modes of transport – from roads, active travel, public transport, to aviation and maritime –T-SAP II identifies the sector’s key climate vulnerabilities and sets out 40 targeted actions to reduce disruption, safeguard infrastructure and protect vital transport services.
As part of a broader government efforts to develop tailored climate adaptation action plans across all key sectors, the plan helps embed climate resilience into policy, planning and investment, supporting the long-term wellbeing of Ireland’s environment, society and economy.
T-SAP II plays a crucial role in Ireland’s national response to climate change, providing a clear and coordinated plan to help the transport sector prepare for more frequent and extreme weather events, as well as more gradual impacts of climate change.
Shaping the development of T-SAP II
To inform and deliver the updated plan, the Department of Transport drew on technical support across all key stages of development. This included the integration of climate science, stakeholder input and national policy alignment to ensure that T-SAP II was both evidence-based and practical.
The work included:
- Climate impact screening and prioritisation
The first step was to review available literature and data to understand how climate change is already impacting Ireland’s transport system – including roads and active travel, public transport, ports and airports. This involved looking at how different types of extreme weather – like floods, storms and heatwaves – might impact each part of the network, how vulnerable the network is, how well it can cope, and what the wider consequences could be. The team also rated each part of the system based on how important it is nationally. For example, while damage to a local cycle route may be inconvenient, it wouldn’t have the same impact as a disruption at a port of national significance.
- Stakeholder engagement workshops
Four in-person workshops were delivered with key stakeholders from across the transport sector. These sessions gave participants the opportunity to review and help confirm our assessment of priority climate risks, share local knowledge, and highlight any gaps or concerns. Together, the team explored potential synergies and conflicts, co-developed practical adaptation actions, and helped build shared understanding and momentum for implementation. These sessions also supported knowledge transfer, buy-in and capacity-building within the transport sector.
- Public consultation
To support transparency and public input, a public consultation was carried out on the draft T-SAP II. Alongside the draft plan, accessible visual and video content was created to help communicate key messages. The consultation website was also optimised for GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliance and real-time analytics. At the end of the consultation period, the team produced a summary report capturing the main responses and insights received, which helped inform the final version of the plan.
- Implementation and monitoring framework
Finally, the team developed a structured framework to support long-term delivery – including indicators to track progress, evaluate adaptation outcomes and inform future iterations of the T-SAP.
Supporting a joined-up approach to climate adaptation
T-SAP II plays a crucial role in Ireland’s national response to climate change, providing a clear and coordinated plan to help the transport sector prepare for more frequent and extreme weather events, as well as more gradual impacts of climate change.
Developed in parallel with the National Climate Change Risk Assessment, it supports a cross-government approach to climate adaptation, so that the efforts are aligned, consistent and mutually reinforcing.
By addressing all major climate hazards and setting out targeted actions, the plan helps rapidly build capacity across the sector – enabling transport agencies, operators and policymakers to respond to immediate risks and plan for long-term resilience across all transport modes.
Ultimately, T-SAP II is expected to make a meaningful contribution to Ireland’s climate resilience, helping protect infrastructure, maintain connectivity and reduce risks to people and services nationwide.
Want to learn more about T-SAP II? Click here.