Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 September 2018
81. Deputy Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the way in which and the point at which he came to the conclusion that the national mitigation plan is not working. [37582/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraMeeting Ireland's EU targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and 2030 will be extremely challenging.
The latest projections of greenhouse gas emissions, published by the EPA in May, indicate that emissions from those sectors of the economy covered by Ireland's 2020 targets could be between 0% and 1% below 2005 levels by 2020 in the context of a target that emissions should be 20% below their 2005 levels. While this is very disappointing, it is not surprising given the recent pace of economic growth, with 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.
For 2030, the recently agreed EU Effort Sharing Regulation sets out binding annual greenhouse gas emission targets for each Member State for the period 2021 to 2030. Ireland’s target under this Regulation will be for a 30% reduction in 2005 levels of emissions by 2030. This is where we must now focus our efforts to ensure that, at the absolute very least, we meet our 2030 target.
To meet these targets, Ireland's first statutory National Mitigation Plan, which I published in July last year, provides a framework to guide investment decisions by Government in domestic measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of the Plan is to specify the policy measures required in order to manage Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions at a level appropriate for making progress towards our long-term national transition objective as set out in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, as well as to take into account existing EU and international obligations on the State in relation to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
This Plan very explicitly defined the scale of the challenge Ireland faces in decarbonising its economy and acknowledged that it was a first step and not a complete roadmap to achieve the national transition objective to 2050. Rather it began the process of development of medium- to long-term options to ensure that we are well positioned to take the necessary actions in the next and future decades. The Plan is a ‘living document’ which is being implemented and updated on an on-going basis.
Notwithstanding this, I am required, under the 2015 Act, to bring forward a new National Mitigation Plan at least once every five years. The latest date by which this must happen is, therefore, July 2022. I propose to initiate shortly the process of updating the current Plan in order to facilitate the detailed policy design required to realise the high-level of ambition articulated in the National Development Plan as well as to develop further cost-effective policy options to address Ireland's targets under the Effort Sharing Regulation. This process will also be informed by Ireland’s National Energy and Climate Plan, and by a new long-term low emissions strategy, both of which Ireland must prepare and finalise by the end of 2019 under the EU Clean Energy Package. I intend that the long-term strategy will further elaborate sectoral pathways for Ireland to meet its long-term decarbonisation objectives to 2050, as set out in the National Policy Position.
