Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 March 2019
426. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the possibility of Ireland committing to a fossil fuel phase out date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10699/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am leading on the development of an All of Government Plan, which will set out the actions which must be taken to make Ireland a leader in responding to climate change. This involves working with colleagues across Government to develop new initiatives which will allow Ireland to set a clear pathway to reducing our dependency on fossil fuels across the economy and to meet our targets, under the EU Effort Sharing Regulation, to reduce emissions in the non-ETS sectors of the economy by 30% relative to 2005 levels by 2030. Ireland also has in place a strong long-term decarbonisation policy objective, through the National Policy Position on Climate Action and Low Carbon Development, adopted in 2014. This includes an objective to achieve an aggregate reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of at least 80% (compared to 1990 levels) by 2050 across the electricity generation, built environment and transport sectors and, in parallel, an approach to carbon neutrality in the agriculture and land-use sector, including forestry, which does not compromise capacity for sustainable food production.
Through the National Development Plan, the Government have already made specific commitments to phasing out fossil fuels in certain sectors, including ending the burning of coal at Moneypoint by 2025, ending the use of peat for power generation at the latest by 2028, and a commitment that no new non-zero emission vehicles will be sold in Ireland after 2030.
As the Deputy will also be aware, the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act 2018 imposes an obligation on the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) to divest from fossil fuel undertakings. This is one the first such statutory public divestment obligations put in place globally.
