Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 June 2018
1004. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the likely penalties that will be paid by Ireland for failure to meet EU 2020 carbon emissions targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24489/18]
View answer1007. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the estimated number of fines Ireland will receive from 2020 onwards for missing emissions targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25242/18]
View answer1023. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of Ireland’s obligations in respect of the Kyoto Protocol including the purchase of carbon credits over the period from the signing of the protocol (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24907/18]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1004, 1007 and 1023 together
Under the first period of the Kyoto Protocol (2008-2012), Ireland committed to limiting total national greenhouse gas emissions to 13% above 1990 levels. In anticipation of a requirement for the State to purchase carbon credits in partial fulfilment of Ireland’s Kyoto Protocol and ongoing obligations, the Carbon Fund Act 2007 established a carbon fund for this purpose and empowered the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) to undertake such purchases on behalf of the State, under my policy direction in consultation with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.
Prior to the enactment of the Carbon Fund Act 2007, the State entered into investments in a number of multilateral funds to invest in projects aimed at achieving greenhouse gas emissions reductions, namely the Multilateral Carbon Credit Fund, managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, as well as the Carbon Fund for Europe and Bio-Carbon Fund, both managed by the World Bank. Ongoing management of these investments is a matter for my Department. However, since enactment of the Carbon Fund Act 2007, payments in respect of these funds are made by the NTMA through the Carbon Fund in accordance with the provisions of the Act. The BioCarbon Fund remains the only Fund with outstanding payment commitments and these currently amount to $756,781 (approximately €640,000 at current exchange rates).
In addition to these three funds, the NTMA has engaged in a number of direct market transactions for the purchase of carbon credits directly from the market in order to assist with compliance with Ireland’s obligations under the first period of the Kyoto Protocol.
Through the direct market purchases and investment in the three funds listed above, a total of 8,382,380 credits were received by the State and a further 620,000 are expected to be received on foot of the State’s investment in the BioCarbon Fund. Of this total, 3,052,416 have been surrendered for compliance with the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.
Details of all transactions entered into the NTMA are published annually in a Carbon Fund Report at www.ntma.ie in accordance with section 6 of the Carbon Fund Act 2007.
The following table details the level of expenditure on these funds and transactions in the period between 2006 and 2017. All amounts are in millions of euro.
|
YEAR |
Multilateral Carbon Credit Fund |
Carbon fund for Europe and BioCarbon Fund |
NTMA Market transactions |
Total |
|
2006 |
20 |
|
|
20 |
|
2007 |
|
3.7 |
|
3.7 |
|
2008 |
|
|
53 |
53 |
|
2009 |
|
2.3 |
33.8 |
36.1 |
|
2010 |
|
4.1 |
|
4.1 |
|
2011 |
|
1.9 |
|
1.9 |
|
2012 |
|
0.4 |
|
0.4 |
|
2013 |
|
|
|
0 |
|
2014 |
|
|
|
0 |
|
2015 |
|
|
|
0 |
|
2016 |
|
0.4 |
|
0.4 |
|
2017 |
|
0.4 |
|
0.4 |
|
|
20 |
13.2 |
86.8 |
120 |
Ireland’s commitments under the second period of the Kyoto Protocol, (2013-2020), will be discharged via the 2009 EU Effort Sharing Decision 406/2009/EC (ESD). The ESD established annual emission limits for the period 2013 to 2020 for each EU Member State. For the year 2020 itself, the target set for Ireland is that emissions should be 20% 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 latest projections of greenhouse gas emissions, published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in May 2018, indicate that emissions from those sectors of the economy covered by the ESD could be between 0% and 1% below 2005 levels by 2020.
While this is very disappointing, it is not surprising given the recent pace of economic growth, and the consequent increases in emissions from the agriculture and transport sectors in particular. The projected shortfall to our targets is further exacerbated by both the constrained investment capacity over the past decade due to the economic crisis, and the extremely challenging nature of the target itself. In fact, it is now accepted that Ireland’s 2020 target was not consistent with what would be achievable on an EU wide cost-effective basis.
The ESD includes a number of flexibility mechanisms to enable Member States to meet their annual emissions targets, including provisions to bank any excess allowances to future years and to trade allowances between Member States. Using our banked emissions allocations from the period to 2015, Ireland is projected to comply with its emissions reduction targets in each of the years 2013 to 2017. However, our cumulative emissions are expected to exceed targets for 2018, 2019 and 2020, which will result in a requirement to purchase additional allowances. While this purchasing requirement is not, at this stage, expected to be significant, further analysis will be required to quantify the likely costs involved, in light of the final amount and price of allowances required.
At present Ireland holds a total of 5,329,964 credits (5,255,000 Certified Emission Reductions [CERs] and 74,964 Emission Reduction Units [ERUs]) on behalf of the State in the NTMA Account on the EU Registry, of which 5,265,088 are eligible for compliance under the Effort Sharing Decision.
