Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 February 2017
59. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the steps being taken by his Department to ensure Ireland's commitments under the Paris Agreement are met in view of the fact that 80% of known fossil fuel reserves must be kept in the ground if global warming is to be kept to within 2° Celsius; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5817/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraIreland will contribute to the Paris Agreement via the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) which has been submitted by the EU on behalf of its Member States, and which commits the EU to a 40% reduction in EU-wide emissions by 2030 compared to 1990. This commitment for 2030 is based on EU-wide reductions in the emissions trading system (ETS) sector of 43%, and the non-ETS sector of 30%.
The extent of the challenge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in line with the Paris Agreement and other 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. 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, climate resilient economy by 2050. Statutory authority for the plans is set out in the Act.
As provided for in Section 4(1) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, I, as Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, must submit a National Mitigation Plan (NMP) to Government for approval not later than 10th June 2017. The preparation of the plan is designed to be a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to tackling greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this context, each Minister with responsibility for the largest emitting sectors - electricity generation, the built environment, transport and agriculture - has been requested by Government to develop sectoral mitigation measures. The primary objective of the first NMP will be to track implementation of measures already underway and identify potential additional measures that, in the medium to longer term, will reduce GHG emissions so that we can make progress towards achieving our national transition objective to become a low carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by the end of 2050.
Work is well underway on the development of the NMP, which will be underpinned by appropriate technical, environmental, economic and financial analysis. A statutory consultation, required under Section 4(8) of the Act, is planned for mid-March 2017 when a draft NMP, complete with draft Strategic Environmental and Appropriate Assessment Reports, will be published prior to a final NMP being submitted to Government for approval.
In helping to prepare the ground for the statutory consultation to come in mid-March, I have just recently published a briefing document on the development of the NMP, which addresses the four key sectors concerned and highlights several important questions to be considered in terms of how best we should position Ireland in taking this first step in achieving the national transition objective by 2050.
