Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Climate Action Roadmap 2025

Departmental Context

The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) was established in July 2020. The Department was formed to create an inclusive learning and innovation society where every person can reach their full potential. The Department will develop Ireland’s tertiary education, training and research to support people to reach their full potential and create a prosperous, sustainable and vibrant society, ready to meet the challenges of a changing world. The Department operates from three locations, St. Stephen’s Green and Marlborough Street in Dublin and Tullamore, Co. Offaly.

As of July 2025, the St. Stephen’s Green location has 93 staff members. The building is on the listed building register and is operated as part of a wider campus involving shared resources with the connected buildings occupied by the Department of Justice. The Marlborough Street office has 136 staff, and these areas share resources with the Department of Education and Youth. The Tullamore office has 75 staff members and is also part of a larger campus with the Department of Education and Youth as well as several other public bodies.

As well as ensuring compliance with the public sector mandate as a corporate body, the Department has a significantly wider remit in delivering climate action. There are four key pillars to DFHERIS and the wider sector’s climate activities which reflect national policy. The four pillars are as follows; Green Skills Provision; Climate Research and Innovation; Climate Literacy and Education for Sustainable Development and Decarbonisation of the Tertiary estate. However, Climate Action and Sustainability is not limited to the policy sections owning these areas of responsibility. Steps are being taken to embed Climate Action and Sustainability in all units within the Department, through the business planning process for 2025 and the implementation of the Public Sector mandate.

The Public Sector Climate Mandate applies to the sectoral bodies including Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), Education and Training Boards (ETBs) and aegis bodies. The Department is endeavoring to support coherent and collaborative approaches to climate strategy implementation, with cohesive leadership and well-developed climate roadmaps across the sector, enabling us to respond to the challenges of climate action.

This Roadmap, however, mainly relates to corporate functions, as each of the sectoral bodies must produce their own roadmap.