Mr. Noel Regan:

I will try to address the Senator's queries. She is quite right that the Energy Charter Treaty is a moving field. I think there was a case at the start of the month in Belgium, and it is very much moving. Our Department is engaging with other member states and the Commission on that and on where it is at. There is a review ongoing, so it is a relevant topic.

As for fossil fuels and fossil fuel infrastructure, if I may deal with those in one response, the package has some interesting proposals on fossil fuels and their reduction over time. I will focus on just a couple of them. First, it now includes an express requirement for planning of gas infrastructure and its decommissioning in the plans of infrastructure companies, so decommissioning is an actual requirement to be addressed. The second thing it does is allow for a transfer of assets from a natural gas pipeline to a hydrogen pipeline. As Senator Higgins said, there will be hydrogen grid operators and natural gas grid operators, and the legislation allows, quite simply, for a pipeline to move from one asset base of natural gas to hydrogen. It is essentially a roadway away from fossil fuels. Third, there is an express provision in the legislation that member states cannot enter long-term contracts for natural gas beyond 2049. A long-term contract for gas is a one-year contract. This is the first time we have seen an actual obligation that member states simply cannot buy long-term contracts beyond that period.

As for the methane pledge, this legislative proposal goes part of the way towards it. The methane regulation covers energy methane. I will focus on emissions outside EU borders rather than inside them because the majority of methane from fossil fuel use in Europe occurs outside our borders, so it is a matter of importation. The legislation will now require importers to provide information on those methane emissions upstream. The Commission has signalled that, with that information, and by no later than the end of 2025, it will consider if further obligations are required. I think this is a world first in that the Commission is looking at methane production beyond the borders of where it is used.

That is going to be a very key piece of the methane pledge.

The whole purpose of this legislation is to facilitate renewable and low-carbon gases. I want to signal with regard to low-carbon gases and the definition I mentioned earlier of a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the details of that will be done through a delegated Act, to be done by 2024. In initial discussions I have heard it raised that people would like certainty on that earlier rather than waiting three years. That is something we will also need to consider. Do we need three years to settle that discussion?