The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 strengthens the role of Local Authorities for effective climate action. It sets out a statutory requirement for each Local Authority to prepare a Climate Action Plan (LA CAP), within 12 months from when I formally issue a request to the sector to prepare such plans. This request must be made not later than 18 months after the commencement of the Act. LA CAPs will have to be consistent with national climate plans, and will include both mitigation and adaptation measures to be updated every five years.
My Department is working with the Climate Action Regional Offices, Local Authorities, and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland to finalise a set of statutory guidelines detailing the approach Local Authorities are to take in the development and implementation of LA CAPs. The Guidelines and Technical Annexes define the method for the development and implementation of specific, action-focused, time-bound and measurable actions and include the following:
- Local Authority Climate Action Plan Guidelines
- Technical Annex A: Developing and Implementing the Local Authority Climate Action Plan
- Technical Annex B: Climate Change Risk Assessment.
- Technical Annex C: Climate Mitigation Assessment.
- Technical Annex D: Decarbonisation Zones.
The guidelines will include the issue of implementation of decarbonising zones and I anticipate that they will be completed shortly.
