Bernard Allen
Question:690 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the way in which the Government is complying with the Kyoto Protocol. [20282/02]
Written Answers. - Environmental Policy.
Bernard Allen
Question:691 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the steps he is proposing to take to ensure that Ireland faces up to its responsibilities under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; and the steps he has taken to have Ireland return its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels. [20283/02]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 690 and 691 together.
The 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has the ultimate objective of preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system and places a particular responsibility on developed countries to adopt policies and measures aimed at mitigating climate change by limiting emissions of greenhouse gases.
Article 4 of the convention outlines the detailed commitments of parties including requirements to adopt and implement national programmes to limit greenhouse gas emissions; to publish national communications outlining the policies and measures aimed at returning, individually or jointly, to 1990 levels of CO2 emissions by the end of that decade; to produce national inventories of greenhouse gas emissions and removal by sinks; assist developing country parties through capacity building, technology transfer and financial transfers, including assisting those that are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change in meeting costs of adaptation; to co-operate in scientific research and to promote and co-operate in education, training and public awareness related to climate change and encourage the widest participation in this process, including that of non-governmental organisations.
In recognition of the different economic conditions and other considerations in the member states, the EU agreed to joint fulfilment of the convention's emissions limitation objective and returned to below its 1990 emissions levels by 2000 – a 3.5% reduction was achieved.
Ireland continues to meet its obligations under the convention through,inter alia, annual financial contributions to the trust funds under the convention and the global environment facility, the financial mechanism of the convention; publication of Ireland's climate change CO2 abatement strategy in June 1993 and the national climate change strategy in November 2000; submission of Ireland's first and second national communications in October 1994 and July 1997, respectively; production of annual greenhouse gas inventories compiled by the EPA in accordance with the guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – IPCC; inclusion of climate related research projects in the EPA's environ mental research programme under the Productive Sector Operational Programme 2000-2006 and ensuring availability of climate change information by ENFO and through the national environmental awareness campaign. In addition, my Department provides financial support for the NGO community to promote civil society participation in the meetings of the conference of the parties under the convention.
The Kyoto Protocol to the convention, adopted in 1997, commits industrialised or developed countries to legally binding targets to reduce, individually or jointly, their combined emissions of a basket of six greenhouse gases with a view to achieving an overall reduction of at least 5% compared to 1990 levels by the period 2008-12.
Ireland's obligation under the Kyoto Protocol, as part of the joint fulfilment of an EU 8% reduction target, is to limit emissions of greenhouse gases to an increase of 13% above our 1990 baseline by 2008-12.
The Government's national climate change strategy, published in November 2000, sets a ten year framework for achieving the necessary greenhouse gas emissions reductions to ensure that Ireland complies with the Kyoto Protocol.
Ireland, together with all other member states and the EU, ratified the protocol on 31 May 2002. In parallel with ratification, the first progress report implementing the strategy was published. Measures already under way in the first year are capable of yielding reductions of up to 3.3 Mt CO2 equivalent of the 13.1 Mt CO2 equivalent reductions required below the business as usual projections in the national climate change strategy to meet our Kyoto obligations.
Implementation of the national climate change strategy is being co-ordinated by a cross-departmental climate change team, chaired by my Department. The team has recently initiated the first biennial review of the strategy, to be undertaken in consultation with Comhar and finalised by spring of 2003.
I am satisfied that full implementation of the national climate change strategy over the remainder of the decade, together with any additional measures which may be identified in the review, will ensure that our Kyoto obligations are fully met by the 2008-12 period.
Copies of Ireland's first and second national communications together with the 1993 CO2 abatement strategy, the 2000 national climate change strategy and the first progress report – 1993 – on this strategy are available in the Oireachtas Library.
Bernard Allen
Question:692 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the way in which he proposes to promote, strengthen and compliment the European Union sustainable development strategy through the implementation of national sustainable development strategies. [20284/02]
Bernard Allen
Question:693 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the work which has been done to draw up strategies for sustainable development. [20285/02]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 692 and 693 together.
Sustainable Development: A Strategy for Ireland, which was published in 1997, reflects and takes forward in the Irish context the action programme for sustainable development – Agenda 21 – which was adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The strategy aims at providing a comprehensive analysis and framework to allow sustainable development to be advanced in Ireland in a systematic manner. It includes an analysis of the relationship between economic activities and the environment and an agenda to reinforce and deepen integration of environmental concerns; a strategic framework of priorities;action in strategic sectors agriculture, forestry, marine resources, energy, industry, transport, tourism and trade; measures in supporting sectors environmental quality, settlement and land use planning, the built environment, public action and awareness, and Ireland's international role and arrangements for implementation and monitoring.
Since 1997, the strategy has had a significant influence on environment policy and on the environmental dimension of sectoral policies in Ireland.
The recent policy report, Making Ireland's Development Sustainable, published by my Department, reviews and assesses sustainable development action in Ireland over the past decade and sets out policy priorities for the period ahead. As stated in the report, policy developments at the EU and wider international levels – including the EU sustainable development strategy adopted at the Gothenburg European Council in June 2001 provide an important context and support for the advancement of national environmental and sustainable development policy. Copies of the report have been placed in the Oireachtas Library.