I am very glad to be here to give an opening statement on our national energy and climate plan, NECP, and the long-term strategy. The integrated national energy and climate plan collates the policies, measures and actions related to energy and climate outlined in a range of Government plans, such as the climate action plan, the national development plan, and Project Ireland 2040 into one cohesive document.
First submitted in 2019 and followed by a draft last December, the updated NECP has been carefully drafted with input sought from experts across Government to ensure that the plan fully reflects Ireland's ambition on energy and on climate. My Department received an assessment in February of the draft NECP, submitted the previous December, highlighting areas for improvement in the draft document along with its strengths. My officials have endeavoured to ensure that the Commission's assessment has been comprehensively dealt with, and that its concerns are addressed in this further update. As we seek to ensure that the document, which we will submit to the Commission during the summer, is of the highest possible standard and addresses the key areas which the Commission has highlighted as being of importance.
The European Union has increased its ambition in recent years on climate issues. The revision of targets through the Fit for 55 package, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% in 2030 compared to 1990 has resulted in a significant increase in the contribution Ireland needs to make to ensure Europe can meet these targets. Whereas previously Ireland needed to reduce its non-ETS sector, primarily agriculture, transport and built environment, greenhouse gas emissions from those sectors by 30% compared to 2005, that target has now increased to 42%. Under the Revised Energy Efficiency Directive, Ireland must reduce its final energy consumption to 10.45 million tonnes of oil equivalent. The latest iteration of the Renewable Energy Directive, RED III, has seen Europe's target on the overall share of energy consumption derived from renewable sources for 2030, increase substantially to 42.5% to which Ireland's expected national contribution is 43%.
The NECP is underpinned by robust modelling, which has been carried out by the SEAI and the EPA, analysing Ireland's progress towards its targets.
Projections have been carried out under two scenarios: the with existing measures, WEM, scenario, and the with additional measures, WAM, scenario. The with existing measures scenario demonstrates the progress Ireland will make toward our targets based on existing policies and measures. The WAM scenario demonstrates the progress that can be made if we successfully implement the full suite of planned policies and measures outlined in the climate action plan and similar plans.
While the WEM and WAM modelling in the NECP will show shortfalls to some of Ireland’s targets, the plan will nonetheless demonstrate the significant progress which has been made, with contributions from across government showcasing the most recent plans, policy developments and ambition throughout the document. It must be noted that the NECP collates, in one document, the full extent of Ireland’s policies in the areas of energy and climate and highlights our ambition in that regard, but it does not rewrite or create new policy. Where gaps or issues are identified as part of the update and through the consultation process, they will be fed into the domestic policy cycle and reviewed.
Public consultation has formed, and will continue to form a crucial element of the NECP process. While the constituent parts of the plan were subject to consultation in their own right, the NECP presents a unique opportunity to review a document which draws together crucial elements of a wide variety of plans and policy from across Government. The consultation process on the NECP seeks to build on existing and ongoing public engagement across Government on energy and climate policy. In February, my Department held a public consultation on the draft NECP which received 40 submissions from various stakeholders, members of the public and NGOs. This will shortly be followed by a second consultation on this updated version of the document.
In addition to public consultation, my officials and I have engaged positively and frequently with our EU colleagues in the Commission and other member states through fora such as the North Seas energy co-operation group, NSEC, as well as engaging with our nearest neighbours in Northern Ireland and in Britain on elements of the plan which have North-South or east-west implications, particularly with regard to the all-island energy market.
Over the coming weeks, my Department will carry out a public consultation process on this updated NECP, during which officials will engage with stakeholders through a webinar event to better inform the process for all parties. The consultation process also includes the carrying out and completion of a strategic environmental assessment. Following the conclusion of the consultation, my officials will take a short period to review the submissions received and integrate changes which arise to the NECP as a result. It will then be submitted to the Commission.
With regard to our long-term strategy, LTS, under EU legislation all member states are required to prepare a long-term climate strategy with a perspective of at least 30 years. Member states must ensure consistency between their latest long-term strategy and the NECP and must update the respective plans as needed. Member states’ and the Union's long-term strategies must contribute to fulfilling the Union's and the member states' commitments set out under the Paris Agreement and the European climate law and they should cover emissions reductions, emissions removals and the socioeconomic aspects of the transition to climate neutrality. A comprehensive draft long-term strategy was prepared in 2019 by the then Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. However, with a new programme for Government in 2020 which committed to substantially increasing our climate ambition, including our 2050 objective, submission of Ireland’s draft strategy to the European Commission was paused to ensure it fully aligned with the State’s enhanced climate ambition.
Ireland’s first long-term strategy on greenhouse gas emissions was approved by Government and published in April 2023, and was subsequently, in May 2023, submitted to the European Commission as stipulated by Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action. The strategy is underpinned by input received from Government Departments and agencies and through a public consultation. It is in line with the increased ambition set out in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Acts 2015 to 2021 and the Climate Action Plan 2023. Following its publication, my Department launched a further public consultation on the strategy with aims of preparing an updated strategy that meets additional requirements established by our national legislation and aligns with the latest Climate Action Plan 2024. I have also consulted further with Ministers and the Climate Change Advisory Council as part of this process. My Department is currently finalising the updated strategy, which will be completed shortly. The updated strategy will be the first national long-term climate strategy to be prepared in line with the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Acts 2015 to 2021.
Given its conformance with EU and national requirements, the updated strategy will also be submitted to the European Commission and the UNFCCC and will replace our current strategy.
