Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 February 2022
175. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the extent to which the discussions and deliberations at the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference fall within Ireland’s carbon reduction targets; and if an equitable coexistence can emerge with obvious benefits for Ireland’s economy. [7800/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) provides the framework for addressing climate change. The UNFCCC 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) delivered positively on a number of important matters, including strengthened efforts to build resilience to climate change, to curb greenhouse gas emissions and to provide the necessary finance for both. The overarching COP26 decision, the ‘Glasgow Climate Pact’, signifies that the goals of the Paris Agreement can still be met and commits all Parties to accelerate action on climate this decade. Ireland is a Party to this agreement and engages in negotiations through its membership of the EU.
Climate change, as a trans-boundary challenge, can only be addressed through committed ambition and effective multilateral cooperation at the international level. The EU has earned a leadership role on climate matters and continues to advance with comprehensive and ambitious climate policy, including committing to a more ambitious target to reduce its emissions by at least 55% by 2030 (relative to 1990 levels) and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Ireland has fully supported the increased EU ambition and recognises the central role that the EU has played in helping to drive the climate action agenda forward in a way that seeks to balance cost-effectiveness, fairness and solidarity across Member States. Ireland continues to support EU policy in this area. Furthermore, Ireland’s increased targets set out in our Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 are consistent with this EU ambition, and are consistent with an appropriate contribution by the State to global efforts to limit climate change to well below 2 Degrees Celsius and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 Degrees Celsius as articulated in the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement.
The Climate Act sets Ireland on a legally binding path to net-zero emissions no later than 2050, and to a 51% reduction in emissions by 2030. It also establishes a significantly strengthened legally binding framework with clear commitments set in law and ensures the necessary structures and processes are embedded on a statutory basis, so that Ireland achieves its national, EU and international climate goals in the near and long-term.
