Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 October 2019
208. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the extent to which he sees Ireland's climate action programme moving closer to international targets in 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42555/19]
View answer209. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he has measured the extent to which Ireland will reach its targets in respect of climate change in each of the next five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42556/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 208 and 209 together.
To address the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland, I published the Climate Action Plan on 17 June. The Plan sets out, for the first time, how Ireland can reach its 2030 targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the 2009 Effort Sharing Decision 406/2009/EC (ESD), which put in place binding annual emissions targets for each year between 2013 and 2020 for sectors outside the EU Emissions Trading System, Ireland must achieve a reduction of 20% relative to 2005 levels of emissions. Under the latest projections of greenhouse gas emissions, published earlier this year by the EPA, emissions from those sectors of the economy covered by the ESD could remain between 0% and 1% below 2005 levels by 2020.
The ESD allows Member States to meet their targets by means of unused emissions allowances from earlier years, or through purchasing allowances from other Member States or on international markets. Ireland has already acquired a portion of the additional allowances that will be required for compliance. However, I am advised that Ireland will need to purchase additional allowances to meet projected shortfalls in 2019 and 2020. My Department currently estimates the cost of this requirement to be in the region of €6m to €13m, depending on the price and final quantity of allowances required. The EPA will release provisional greenhouse gas emission inventory data for 2018 on 23 October 2019 and this will further inform the likely purchasing requirement.
As a successor to the ESD, the EU Effort Sharing Regulation (2018/842) has set binding annual emissions targets for the non-ETS sectors of each Member State for each year between 2021 and 2030. For the year 2030 itself, Ireland must achieve a reduction of 30% relative to 2005 levels of emissions.
