Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 March 2023
154. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications whether it is the view of the Government and his Department that the obligations created by section 6A(5) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 have been fully discharged (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10760/23]
View answerIreland's first carbon budget programme came into effect on 6 April 2022 following a consultation and review process provided for under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Acts 2015 - 2021. This included a review by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Environment and Climate Action, and a public consultation undertaken by the Department for the Environment, Climate and Communications.
The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications also consulted with his Ministerial colleagues, seeking their observations on the Climate Change Advisory Council’s first proposed carbon budget programme. The carbon budget programme was then agreed by Government and approved by each House of the Oireachtas.
Section 6A(5) of the Act provides: “The first two carbon budgets proposed by the Advisory Council shall provide for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions such that the total amount of annual greenhouse gas emissions in the year ending on 31 December 2030 is 51 per cent less than the annual greenhouse gas emissions reported for the year ending on 31 December 2018, as set out in the national greenhouse gas emissions inventory prepared by the Agency.”
The obligations under Section 6A(5) are fully met and the first two carbon budgets proposed by the Advisory Council provided for the reduction of 51% by the end of 2030 from the annual greenhouse as emissions reported for the year ending 31 December 2018.
