Mr. Brian Carroll:

I will use my opening remarks to address the three issues the committee has indicated that it would like to discuss. The first relates to how Departments intend to deliver the carbon budgets. The Climate Action Plan 2021 builds on the Climate Action Plan 2019, recognising that a larger range of measures are now required to achieve the significant increase in ambition set out in the 2020 programme for Government.

The focus of the 2021 plan is on delivering a 51% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030 and a pathway consistent with climate neutrality by no later than 2050.

To support these two objectives, the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 provides for the adoption of a programme of three sequential, five-year, economy-wide carbon budgets, namely, 2021 to 2025; 2026 to 2030; and 2031 to 2035, the latter being provisional. It is these budgets the committee is currently considering with a view to providing a report to the Oireachtas. Once the carbon budgets are adopted, Government must then approve sectoral emissions ceilings within the limits of the respective economy-wide carbon budgets. The 2021 climate Act also provides that Government approve an annual update to the climate action plan that is consistent with the carbon budget programme. Once the carbon budget programme and associated sectoral emissions ceilings have been adopted, the Climate Action Plan 2022 will update the 2021 plan to ensure such consistency.

While I have set out key elements of the legal and policy framework to support Departments delivering the carbon budgets, this is not to say it will be easy. The challenge of doing so is very significant and will require transformational change across all sectors of society and the economy. The current climate action plan sets out ambitious targets, measures and actions for all sectors while also recognising we cannot yet identify all the emerging science, technologies or policies to meet our full ambition, but it points to further measures that could close the gap. A programme of work will be undertaken to refine the potential of these measures and to set relevant targets and pathways. These will be reflected in future climate action plans.

The second issue signalled by the committee is whether the carbon budgets meet the requirements under the 2021 climate Act. While the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications is currently considering the carbon budgets in accordance with the provisions of the legislation, including consulting with the committee, other Ministers and the public, the carbon budget technical report of the Climate Change Advisory Council clearly sets out that the proposed budgets have been calculated to allow compliance with 51% emissions reduction by 2030 and to set Ireland on a pathway to achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

The proposed carbon budgets have been calculated in line with SI 531 of 2021, Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (Greenhouse Gas Emissions) Regulations 2021. They use the most recent Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, inventories and projections, they are built on the latest science, and they are consistent with international best practice on reporting.

With regard to the need to maximise employment and ensure a just transition in Ireland, appropriately designed climate policies, measures and actions have significant potential to open up new employment and enterprise opportunities, including targeted supports to help particularly impacted groups, regions and communities adapt to the new economy, as committed to in the Climate Action Plan 2021. In terms of consistency with Article 2 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, and having regard to international climate justice, Ireland is required to make an appropriate contribution via the European Union's nationally determined contribution to the Paris Agreement. The proposed carbon budgets will enable this.

The third and final issue the committee highlighted for discussion is how the carbon budgets intersect with the climate action plan. I have already outlined this in my statement. It is clear that a relentless focus on delivery and intense policy evaluation over future iterations of the climate action plan will be essential to achieve the greenhouse gas emissions reductions necessary for compliance with the carbon budget programme to be adopted by Government this spring.

I thank the committee for inviting me and my colleagues. I am happy to answer any questions.