Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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279. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if a climate delivery taskforce has been established to focus on the specific areas or initiatives of climate delivery that require cross-Government collaboration in all relevant departments in the industry sector as outlined in the Climate Action Plan annex of actions, if he will report on their progress to date and the participation of the Department Of The Environment, Climate And Communications in the taskforce; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31173/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In January of this year, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications established a Heat and Built Environment Taskforce to accelerate and drive delivery in relation to retrofitting, renewable heat, district heat and decarbonisation of the building stock. The overarching aim of the Taskforce is to identify work on the critical path to key targets under each area, ensure alignment in the development of policies and activities underway across Government departments, and proactively manage risks to ensure targets are achieved.

The Taskforce is chaired by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, and its membership comprises senior officials from Government Departments and agencies with retrofitting, renewable heat, district heating networks, decarbonisation of heating and operational energy use optimisation in the building stock related actions under the Climate Action Plan. The Taskforce’s Terms of Reference and Minutes of its meetings and objectives are available on gov.ie

An Industrial Heat Decarbonisation Working Group under the Taskforce has been established to oversee and support the development of a Roadmap for the decarbonisation of industrial heat.

The link between fossil fuels and economic progress must be completely decoupled. Under the sectoral emission ceilings agreed in July 2022, the industry sector must reduce emissions by 35% by 2030 from the 2018 baseline. The majority of emissions from industry arise from the generation of heat in manufacturing processes. We must reduce the impact of this heat demand through greater energy efficiency, and by switching away from fossil fuels for generating that heat. Decarbonising our manufacturing sector alongside our energy sectors is key to Ireland’s future economy and competitiveness.

Under Climate Action Plan 2023, my Department is leading on the development of this roadmap to set out the key policy interventions required to progress the decarbonisation of our industrial heat. The roadmap will include a pathway to the electrification of low temperature heat, and the prioritisation of decarbonised gas for use in high temperature heating. The roadmap will develop actions for inclusion in the next Climate Action Plan and will address the three carbon budget periods up to 2035.

The Industrial Heat Decarbonisation Working Group has met twice to date, since its establishment in spring of this year and will meet more regularly over the coming months as it accelerates development of the Roadmap, to be delivered in Q4 of this year. The membership of the group has been agreed and is chaired by officials from my Department. Relevant officials from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications attend each meeting of the Working Group.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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280. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if a climate delivery taskforce has been established to focus on the specific areas or initiatives of climate delivery that require cross-Government collaboration in all relevant departments in the built environment sector as outlined in the Climate Action Plan annex of actions; if he will report on their progress to date and the participation of the Department Of The Environment, Climate And Communications in the taskforce; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31174/23]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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281. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if a climate delivery taskforce has been established to focus on the specific areas or initiatives of climate delivery that require cross-Government collaboration in all relevant departments in the built environment sector as outlined in the Climate Action Plan annex of actions; if he will report on their progress to date and the participation of the Department Of The Environment, Climate And Communications in the taskforce; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31178/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 280 and 281 together.

In January of this year, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications established a Heat and Built Environment Taskforce to accelerate and drive delivery in relation to retrofitting, renewable heat, district heat and decarbonisation of the building stock. The overarching aim of the Taskforce is to identify work on the critical path to key targets under each area, ensure alignment in the development of policies and activities underway across Government Departments, and proactively manage risks to ensure targets are achieved.

The Taskforce is chaired by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and its membership comprises senior officials from Government Departments and agencies with retrofitting, renewable heat, district heating networks, decarbonisation of heating and operational energy use optimisation in the building stock related actions under the Climate Action Plan. The Taskforce’s Terms of Reference and Minutes of its meetings and objectives are available on gov.ie

My Department is represented on the Taskforce by senior officials from the Enterprise Strategy, Competitiveness and Evaluation Division including officials from the Climate Acton and Energy Policy Unit. Since its first meeting in March the Taskforce has examined a wide range of issues including District Heating, Anaerobic Digestion/Biomethane, Social Housing and Domestic Retrofit, Public Sector, Commercial Buildings and Green Skills.

As set out in the Taskforce’s Terms of Reference there are a number of working groups established to deal with specific tasks under the remit of the Taskforce. Of the six Working Groups, I have a particular interest in the Industry Working Group and the Commercial Built Environment Roadmap Working Group given my responsibility for the sectoral emissions in these areas as per the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021.

The Climate Action Plan 2023 sets out our level ambition for decarbonising the commercial built environment. A detailed roadmap is being developed, led by my Department and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, which is also supported by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research and Science, the SEAI and other agencies. This Roadmap will set out the key existing and new policy interventions to achieve the objectives set out to reach the targeted level of abatement from our commercial buildings.

The Commercial Built Environment Roadmap Working Group have met on three occasions since March and has discussed the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive (EPBD), the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), relevant data availability, the elements to be included in the roadmap, and their approach to engagement with stakeholders. There are now stakeholder engagements scheduled, with sectoral representative bodies for sectors identified as having a high carbon abatement potential, including those from tourism and hospitality, retail, office users and also include commercial landlords.

The Working Group is scheduled to complete its roadmap for the Commercial sector by Q3 this year.