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Leaving Cert Technology: Sustainability & environment

How often Sustainability & environment comes up on the Technology papers, every year it was asked, and questions to try.

HL Asked on 9 of the last 9 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2025. banker

OL Asked on 9 of the last 9 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2025. banker

Sustainability & environment, Higher Level(6 marks)

Quick ones on Sustainability & environment.

(a)What is upcycling?
  1. Breaking a product down into raw material to remake it
  2. Reusing a waste item to make something of higher value
  3. Burning waste to generate electricity
(b)Designing a product to fail or become outdated after a set time is called:
  1. Life-cycle assessment
  2. Design for disassembly
  3. Planned obsolescence
(c)What is a circular economy?
  1. Keeping materials in use by reuse, repair and recycling
  2. Selling products only in local markets to cut transport
  3. A take, make, use and dispose model of production
Show the answers

(a) Reusing a waste item to make something of higher value

(b) Planned obsolescence

(c) Keeping materials in use by reuse, repair and recycling

Your turn: Higher Level questions on Sustainability & environment.

Higher Level

Asked on 9 of the last 9 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2025. banker

Every paper, year by year

YearWhere it came up
2025A1, B2d
2024A12
2023A1, A2, A11, A12
2022A3, A14
2021A14, B3d
2019A9
2018A10, B3a
2017A6, A10, B2d
2016A3, A7

Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.

More Sustainability & environment questions

Sustainability & environment, 2 marks

Burning waste that cannot be recycled to generate electricity is called:

  1. Upcycling
  2. Composting
  3. Energy recovery
Show the answer

Energy recovery

Waste-to-energy plants burn leftover waste to raise steam and drive turbines. It beats landfill but ranks below reduce, reuse and recycle.

Sustainability & environment, 3 marks

What does a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a product measure?

  1. The time taken to design, test and launch it
  2. Its environmental impact from raw material to disposal
  3. Its sales from launch through growth to decline
Show the answer

Its environmental impact from raw material to disposal

LCA totals energy, emissions and waste at every stage: extraction, making, transport, use and end of life. It shows where the impact can be cut.

Sustainability & environment, 3 marks

Why is timber from sustainably managed forests (e.g. FSC-certified) a greener choice?

  1. Trees felled are replaced by replanting
  2. It is taken from ancient rainforest
  3. It needs no processing at all
Show the answer

Trees felled are replaced by replanting

Certified forests are replanted and managed for wildlife and local people, so the timber supply is renewable. Growing trees also absorb carbon dioxide.

Ordinary Level

Asked on 9 of the last 9 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2025. banker

Every paper, year by year

YearWhere it came up
2025B2a, B3d
2024A3
2023A3, B2a, B2b
2022A3, A9, B2a
2021A9, B2d, B3b, B3d
2019B3d
2018A2, B2d
2017A3
2016B2d

Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.

More Sustainability & environment questions

Sustainability & environment, 3 marks

Turning an old wooden pallet into a garden bench is an example of…

  1. Recycling
  2. Composting
  3. Upcycling
Show the answer

Upcycling

Upcycling reuses an item in a new, often higher-value form without breaking it down. Recycling breaks the material down, e.g. melting glass, to make new products.

Sustainability & environment, 2 marks

What is a carbon footprint?

  1. The mark left on a surface by carbon fibre parts
  2. The total greenhouse gases caused by a product or person
  3. The amount of coal burned in a factory each year
Show the answer

The total greenhouse gases caused by a product or person

It is measured in kg or tonnes of CO2 equivalent and covers making, transporting, using and disposing of a product.

Sustainability & environment, 3 marks

The three pillars of sustainability are…

  1. Environmental, social and economic
  2. Reducing, reusing and recycling
  3. Designing, making, testing and evaluating
Show the answer

Environmental, social and economic

A sustainable design balances care for the planet, fairness to people and communities, and financial viability. The 3 Rs are a waste strategy, not the pillars.

Other Technology topics

All of Leaving Cert Technology