Ballymun Decarbonising Zone

Developing the evidence base and engaging the community in Ballymun in the creation of Dublin City Council’s Decarbonising Zone Plan.

March 2023 – February 2024

On this page: About the project Evidence base Community engagement Project results Project team Project partners

Image from the Ballymun Community Conference run by Codema. A school sports hall if full of people sitting at round tables, there are colourful posters on the wall in the background

About the project

A Decarbonising Zone (DZ) is a specific area that has been chosen by a local authority where a range of solutions are identified to address local low-carbon energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate needs. Dublin City Council identified 1) Ballymun and 2) Ringsend and Poolbeg as key areas for climate action and to act as test-beds for innovative climate solutions. A requirement of every local authority in Ireland is to create a “Decarbonising Zone Plan”. Dublin City Council recognised that their Decarbonising Zone Plans should address the unique needs, concerns and aspirations of each community. Codema supported in the development of these plans through providing an evidence base and carrying out community engagement.

Evidence base

Codema supported Dublin City Council initially by developing an evidence base for the Decarbonising Zone Plan. This includes mapping and analysing the energy demand and emissions for residential and commercial buildings (including public sector and industrial), and the transport sector across the Decarbonising Zone. This work resulted in:

A full evidence base of spatially mapped out emission sources and low-carbon resources in the Decarbonising Zone
Potential increase/decrease in emissions projected to 2030
Costs associated with reducing emissions and climate pathways
A gap-to-target analysis, based on the 51% emissions reduction target. A register of opportunities to help define a portfolio and pipeline of decarbonisation projects for delivery and outline potential funding opportunities.

Community engagement

To ensure that the community’s perspective was captured within the Ballymun Decarbonising Zone Plan, our Awareness, Communications and Engagement team developed a Local Engagement Plan and implemented best-practice engagement with the Ballymun community and local stakeholders. Over the course of a year, with the support of Connect the Dots, we invited members of the Ballymun community to take part in facilitated discussions and workshops which sought to co-create a vision, mission and objectives for the Ballymun Decarbonising Zone. These members of the community, who dedicated their time and local knowledge to these workshops, came to be known as the DZ Team. The DZ Team attended three facilitated workshops, connected our team to other organisations and individuals in the area and helped to plan and organise the Green Ballymun Community Conference – which itself was an idea suggested by a Ballymun DZ Team member.

Over the course of the engagement process, our team made an effort to engage community members in person by going door to door to businesses in the area, chatting to people on the street and attending local community events. This allowed us to make connections and hear about local-level challenges and opportunities relating to climate action in Ballymun.