As part of the major Sustainability Feature in the new issue of Hot Press, we talk to the Minister for the Environment, Eamon Ryan, about the state of the Green agenda.

Despite last week's Environmental Protection Agency warning that the Climate Act is currently not on course to reach its legally-binding 33% cut in emissions by 2030, the Minister remains upbeat that the newly minted legislation can still deliver.

"We need to do a lot more, and that’s an opportunity as well," he reflects. "It’s being framed as a big difficulty and a great cost, but we do have to do it. We have to get each area – agriculture, transport, industry and energy – to commit to doing that. It’s such a challenge that if one sector says they can’t do any more, we won’t meet the targets. But the truth of what the EPA is saying, is that to do what we need by the end of the decade, it’s going to take a huge effort."

He also provides us with major updates on Ireland's move towards renewable wind power ("This is the biggest industrial investment in Europe in my lifetime"); the race to get a million electric vehicles on Irish roads by 2030 ("An electric vehicle has a fraction of the moving parts of a combustion engine, so there’s less maintenance and they’re much cheaper to run"); and the introduction of a deposit refund scheme for plastic bottles and cans ("We are switching away from single use plastics".

Add in the latest on the turf-cutting controversy, plans for more bus and cycle lanes and the expansion of Dublin's late-night public transport options, and it makes for a fascinating read!

For all that and lots more on the environmental front, see the new issue of Hot Press, out now with MuRli and his fellow Longitude stars and Austin Butler as Elvis starring on our special flip-cover.