Mr. John Martin:

I thank the Chair and committee members for the opportunity to outline the Department of Transport’s ongoing engagement and inputs to the setting of sectoral emissions ceilings under the Climate and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021. I am principal officer over a new climate engagement and governance division established recently in the Department. I am joined by my colleagues Ms Aoife O’Grady and Ms Andrea Lennon. Ms Lennon heads up our energy, air and adaptation division, which includes policy on renewable fuels and biofuels for transport, while Ms O'Grady leads our climate delivery team, which focuses on facilitating the transition to electric vehicles, our EV charging infrastructure strategy, and the establishment of the zero emissions vehicles Ireland office. I am responsible for co-ordination and reporting on our obligations under the climate Act and Climate Action Plan, supporting the implementation of our recently published sustainable mobility policy through the SMP leadership group, and improving our engagement on climate action with the public and our partners in the transport sector.

Members of the committee will be well aware that transport accounts for about 18% of our national greenhouse gas emissions. Our initial baseline emissions abatement target going into the sectoral emissions ceilings process was to deliver a 51% emissions reduction from a baseline of 12.2 million tonnes per year in 2018 to approximately 6 million tonnes per year by 2030. The indicative levels of abatement expected for each sector of the economy in CAP21 set a range of 42% to 50% to be delivered in the transport sector, and the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and the Department are committed to delivering to the upper end of this range, while acknowledging the scale of the challenge involved for the sector and society, but also the huge benefits to be derived in terms of quality of life as well as carbon abatement. There has been significant expansion recently in the Department's climate teams to ensure we have adequate resourcing and capacity in place to help us to achieve this ambition.

The Minister has commented repeatedly that transport, as a sector, faces an extraordinary challenge in terms of achieving the required emissions reductions in the timeframe envisaged. This difficulty arises from the scale and level of the personal and systems transformations required to shift from settlement patterns and travel behaviour that have been embedded over decades and are dominated by car use. Moreover, as highlighted by the recent EPA report on our greenhouse gas emissions projections, the current suite of CAP21 measures for transport are projected to deliver a 39.3% reduction in emissions, falling short of our 51% abatement ambition. To quote the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, report, further immediate and deep action is required. We acknowledge and accept this shortfall, which we have termed our "gap to target" and which was also noted in the modelling undertaken for the development of CAP21 as a 0.9 million tonne per year shortfall to be identified through additional measures.

In recent months, we have undertaken significant work with our National Transport Authority, NTA, modelling teams, other agencies, academia and transport stakeholders to calibrate our modelling and identify additional measures that could be implemented, recognising the need to ensure fairness and equity in the impacts of such measures. A few areas were selected for particular attention, including identifying measures to reduce the volume of fossil fuel vehicle kilometres travelled, a focus on rural transport and just transition, supporting the decarbonisation of the freight sector, and possible regulatory and financial or taxation measures that could support transport decarbonisation. A report on this engagement and updated modelling results are expected to be delivered this summer, in advance of the annual update of the climate action plan 2023.

While negotiations on the sectoral emissions ceilings are ongoing, our engagement with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has been constructive, with a clear focus on agreeing ceilings that recognise the delivery challenges and timing impacts of the measures involved while also aligning the base assumptions underpinning the analysis involved. In particular, the carbon budgets proposed recognise that a greater level of emissions abatement in the transport sector will be achieved in the second carbon budget period. This trajectory needs to align with the likely uptake of electric and other alternative technologies, the ramping up of transitionary biofuels and renewable fuels, and the longer lead-in times for the roll-out of additional infrastructure and services. Critically, it needs to recognise the level of behavioural and systems change that will be required.

The ongoing war in Ukraine, the spike in energy costs tied to the increased cost of living and supply chain shocks that are particularly affecting the supply of electric vehicles have added to the level of challenge involved. Therefore, the introduction of sectoral ceilings and the level of transformation needed will require strong buy-in at political and citizen levels as we seek to accelerate delivery. It is our view that beyond the existing measures in CAP21, the best means of achieving our goals will be through enacting further policy measures that directly reduce transport demand and which prioritise, facilitate and support behavioural shift to more sustainable modes. Our role over the coming period will need to include presenting and communicating policy measures that will lead us to the sustainable future transport system we are trying to achieve to bring the public with us, a future system that is less congested and which prioritises well-being.

We look forward to continuing our engagement with our colleagues in other Departments to support us in this vision. My transport colleagues and I are happy to take any questions the committee may have.