Seán Haughey
Question:451. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to bring about a reduction in CO2 emissions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8441/16]
View answerTuesday, 26 April 2016
Questions (451)
Written answers
The extent of the challenge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in line with our EU and international commitments, is well understood by Government, as reflected in the National Policy Position on Climate Action and Low Carbon Development, published in April 2014, and now underpinned by the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, which was enacted in December 2015. The National Policy Position provides a high-level policy direction for the adoption and implementation by Government of plans to enable the State to move to a low-carbon economy by 2050. Statutory authority for the plans is set out in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015.
In accordance with Section 4 of the Act, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government must submit a National Mitigation Plan to Government for approval by June 2017. Work is well underway on the development of the National Mitigation Plan, the primary objective of which will be to track implementation of measures already underway and identify additional measures in the longer term to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and progress the overall national low carbon transition agenda to 2050. The first iteration of the National Mitigation Plan will place particular focus on putting the necessary measures in place to address the challenge to 2020 but also in terms of planning ahead to ensure that appropriate policies and measures will be in place beyond that. In this context, key sectors in the low carbon transition process (electricity, transport, built environment and agriculture) are currently developing sectoral mitigation measures in tandem with Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Appropriate Assessment (AA) processes during which measures will be further developed and prioritised.
Development of the National Mitigation Plan is being guided by a long-term vision of low carbon transition, as set out in the National Policy Position, based on;
- an aggregate reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of at least 80% (compared to 1990 levels) by 2050 across the electricity generation, built environment and transport sectors; and
- in parallel, an approach to carbon neutrality in the agriculture and land-use sector, including forestry, which does not compromise capacity for sustainable food production.
The ultimate objective of successive National Mitigation Plans is to incrementally achieve this vision by 2050. In that context, the National Mitigation Plan now being developed will have regard to Ireland’s obligations under the current 2009 Effort Sharing Decision and any likely future EU and international obligations that may arise, including new targets to be agreed under the 2030 climate and energy package.
It is expected that a draft National Mitigation Plan will be made available for public consultation during 2016.