Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 June 2016
119. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the current position in regard to Ireland’s response to European Union or other international agreements in relation to climate change; if he has formulated a progressive plan to address issues arising, with a view to ensuring that no damage is done in the context of economic recovery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18783/16]
View answer120. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which he continues to monitor the level of greenhouse gas emissions with particular reference to reduction in line with national and international guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18784/16]
View answer121. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which this country remains compliant with international carbon reduction targets; his programme for the future in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18785/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 119 to 121, inclusive, together.
Ireland is a Party to both the Kyoto Protocol and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which together provide the international legal framework for addressing climate change at a global level.
Ireland has demonstrated compliance with its greenhouse gas emission reduction target for the purposes of the Kyoto Protocol in the commitment period 2008 to 2012. The Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, which establishes a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol from 2013 to 2020, was agreed in 2012 but has not yet entered into force. Ireland has completed the necessary domestic acceptance procedures in relation to the Doha Amendment. However, it has been decided that the European Union, its Member States and Iceland should formally accept the Doha Amendment simultaneously, on a date yet to be fixed. Ireland stands ready to formally accept the Doha Amendment as and when this date is agreed.
On 12th December 2015, an ambitious new legally binding, global agreement on climate change was agreed in Paris. The Paris Agreement puts in place the necessary framework for all countries to take ambitious action as well as providing for a transparency system to ensure that ensures all countries can have confidence in each other’s efforts. The Agreement sets out a long- term goal to put the world on track to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees. It should be noted that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been tasked with evaluating what will be the specific policy implications of this goal with a special report to be published in 2018.
The Agreement aims to tackle 95% of global emissions through 188 Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). Ireland will contribute to the Paris Agreement via the INDC tabled by the EU on behalf of Member States which commits to 40% reduction in EU-wide emissions by 2030 compared to 1990. The specific details of the contribution to this 40% to be made by each Member State remain to be defined and will be announced as part of the 2030 Climate and Energy package in due course.
At an EU level, f or each year between 2013 and 2020, Ireland has a greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction target under the 2009 Effort Sharing Decision (ESD) No. 406/2009/EC. For the year 2020 itself, the target set for Ireland is that emissions should be 20 per cent below their value in 2005. This is jointly the most demanding 2020 reduction target allocated under the ESD and one shared only by Denmark and Luxembourg. The 2013 target is based on the average of emissions for the years 2008-2010. The target for each of the years 2014 through 2019 is on a straight-line trajectory between the targets for 2013 and 2020, and surpluses in one year can be used to cover deficits in any subsequent year. The average incidence of these targets is a 12% reduction relative to 2005.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) produces national GHG emission projections on an annual basis. The latest projections, published in March 2016, projected emissions for 2020 which indicate that Ireland’s emissions at that stage could be in the range of 6-11% below 2005 levels. On a cumulative basis, Ireland will have a deficit of between 4 and 12 Megatonnes Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (MtCO2e). The projections suggest that Ireland may have a cumulative deficit of units in 2018 or 2019.
The extent of this challenge to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in line with our EU and international commitments, is well understood by the 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 Act.
It should be noted that the overall outcome of the Paris Conference means that the long-term objective that Ireland has also established in the National Policy Position, and that is now underpinned by the Act, namely to pursue substantial decarbonisation of the energy, transport and built environment sectors, as well as pursuing neutrality in the land sector, will now be undertaken within a broader international context.
This means that the more ambitious actions that will be required over time can be taken on the basis of shared experience and co-operation with other States and regions, in the knowledge that all countries will be moving in the same direction, crucial for a small open economy like Ireland’s that competes in global markets.
In addition, and cognisant of the need to safeguard our economic recovery, there will, and must be, a strong economic dimension to the work that Ireland is carrying out to transition to a low carbon, environmentally sustainable economy, as Ireland’s finances continue to stabilise and recover. The National Policy Position clearly identifies competitiveness as a pillar of the fundamental national objective on transition to a low-carbon economy by 2050 and in this context sets out a number of key issues for consideration in the on-going evolution of national climate policy, including
- the need to ensure that objectives are achieved at the least cost to the national economy and that any measures adopted to achieve those objectives are cost-effective, and do not impose an unreasonable burden on the Exchequer, and
- the need to take advantage of environmentally sustainable economic opportunities both within and outside the State.
The Act statutorily underpins these and other key economic considerations, to be taken into account in the development of the mitigation and adaptation plans to be adopted by the Government for the purpose of progressing the national transition agenda. We must therefore look for economic opportunities in the low carbon transition process with policies to be adopted ideally being a spur to sustainable economic growth.
In terms of putting in place a plan to manage our transition to a low carbon economy, in accordance with Section 4 of the Act, a National Mitigation Plan will be submitted to Government for approval by June 2017 at the latest. Work is well underway on the development of this 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.
The ultimate objective of successive 5-yearly National Mitigation Plans is to incrementally achieve this low-carbon transition vision by 2050. In that context, the National Mitigation Plan will have regard to Ireland’s obligations under the current 2009 Effort Sharing Decision, the Paris Agreement and any likely future EU and international obligations that may arise, including new national targets to be agreed under the 2030 Climate and Energy Package.
