Mr. John McCarthy:

I thank the Chairman for the invitation and the opportunity to appear before the committee. Ireland, like most, if not all, developed countries, faces a significant challenge in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and making the transition to a low-carbon future. Transition is not a process where a one-size-fits-all approach will work - the policies and measures which are most likely to be successful in Ireland are those that best respond to our national circumstances as reflected in our greenhouse gas emissions profile, and the structure of our economy.

The extent of the mitigation and transition challenge is immediately evident in the demanding greenhouse gas emission reductions which Ireland must achieve in the period to 2020. For example, in the sectors of the economy not covered by the EU emissions trading scheme, Ireland must achieve a 20% reduction in emissions compared to 2005. This target is binding under EU law and compliance is not optional – it is absolutely paramount and national ambition on transition to a low-carbon future must include compliance with this fundamental mitigation commitment. In response to the overall mitigation and transition challenge, the Minister, Deputy Phil Hogan, issued a review of national climate policy in November 2011.

In presenting the outcome of the review to this committee at that time, the Minister addressed the need to build broad support for the steps that need to be taken if we are to meet our binding obligations under EU and international law, play our role within the EU and at a wider international level to combat dangerous climate change, and achieve our aspirations as a progressive and competitive player in the emerging global green economy.

In any briefing or discussion on climate policy development in Ireland, we have to face the reality that we have a somewhat unusual greenhouse gas emissions profile in a European context, due to a number of factors, including the high share of emissions mainly associated with livestock in the agriculture sector. On this point, it is important to clarify that this situation has not arisen because we have a carbon intensive agriculture sector – quite the contrary in fact, we have a very carbon efficient agriculture and food sector – it is primarily due to the scale of our agriculture industry in our overall economy. The significance of the agriculture and food sectors in Ireland brings a sharp focus to the parallel international priorities of climate protection and sustainable food production in a world with a projected population of 9 billion people in 2050.

The 2011 policy review pointed out that the consistent EU and wider-international focus on the long-term agenda to 2050 provided the context in which national policy will have to be progressed in the post-2012 period. It also proposed that the largely compliance-based policy pursued up to that point would not be adequate for transition over the longer-term. Transition to a low-carbon future is a much broader agenda and long-term planning will be key to its achievement, as well as building a solid foundation for effective engagement by Ireland in the emerging global green economy.

Following a very positive meeting with the committee in December 2011, and in response to a specific request from the committee, the Minister, Deputy Hogan, issued a two-year programme on the development of national climate policy and legislation. Since the programme issued in January 2012, considerable progress has been made, including a two-month period of structured public consultation which attracted a very encouraging response, and the receipt and release of two significant policy analysis reports from the NESC secretariat. The second and final policy analysis report was released together with outline heads of a climate action and low-carbon development Bill on 26 February 2013. Both the final report and the outline heads of the Bill have been referred to the committee for consideration and provide the substantive background for today’s briefing. Therefore, policy and legislation are at the core of what the committee has been asked by the Minister to do.

In issuing the programme for the development of national climate policy and legislation, and subsequently, the Minister has made it clear that he sees a central role for this committee in the policy development process. The report which the committee is to prepare will be one of the key documents that will inform decisions by Government in adopting a national policy position on transition to a low-carbon future, including appropriate institutional arrangements, and finalising the introduction of primary legislation.

That is a brief overview of the background and progress to date under the current policy development programme. I wish to turn now briefly to a few more general points of relevance which the Minister has made over the course of the programme, and some brief points of information in regard to the EU and wider international context in which national policy is being developed.

In working through the policy programme we must recognise that Ireland already has challenging greenhouse gas mitigation target for 2020. As I mentioned earlier, the target is binding under EU law. Last February the Minister spoke in the Dáil and advised that the proposed primary legislation, that the Government intends to bring forward, will be unequivocal on compliance with existing and future State obligations under EU law and international agreement to which the State becomes a party.

Ireland has consistently and constructively supported EU leadership in seeking to mobilise an effective global response to climate change. A key objective in initiating the policy and legislation development process was to ensure that Ireland maintains its acknowledged place among the progressive member states and progressive parties under the UN climate convention. We gave practical expression to this at the recent Informal Council of Environment Ministers in Dublin under the Irish EU Presidency, at which a number of critical EU and international climate issues were tabled for discussion. I will come back to that later.

During the address last February the Minister emphasised that climate protection and economic competitiveness are not mutually exclusive. They can and must be progressed in parallel on a basis that is balanced and complementary. The core national policy principles must reflect a mature balance between our commitments as a responsible society to sustainable development and our ambition as a competitive economy.

The economic rebuilding, in which Ireland is engaged, is a real opportunity to identify areas where a more environmentally sustainable long-term orientation of the economy can and must begin. Recently the Government affirmed its commitment to further developing the green economy by identifying opportunities for sustainable economic growth in its policy statement entitled Delivering our Green Potential. In developing a national approach to a low-carbon future, an unprecedented opportunity arises to address and seek to balance the challenge of greenhouse gas mitigation and the prospect for new growth as the emerging global green economy matures. Both perspectives are critical to an outcome that will reflect a credible balance between commitment to environmentally sustainable development and ambition for economic growth and social development.

A specific issue for Ireland, and one which is hugely relevant to the national climate policy development process, is the fact that a gap exists in international and EU policy and legislation regarding accounting for greenhouse gas emissions and removals related to the use of certain lands, including agricultural land. In an Irish context, the issue is critically important. Approaches to resolve the gap gives rise to matters with profound economic implications for Ireland. Ongoing international efforts to address the policy gap are welcome. Irish engagement is focused on ensuring that proposed solutions are structured to facilitate and encourage development and growth that is sustainable on both environmental and economic grounds.

I shall take the opportunity to update the committee on climate policy development within the EU. This is an active and critically important time for EU policy development. The climate and energy package adopted in December 2008 provided a well established and well understood climate policy framework for 2020. Feedback from major stakeholders has made it increasingly clear that investment cycles, particularly for major infrastructure, need certainty over much longer planning horizons. Long investment cycles, particularly for energy infrastructure, means that projects funded in the near term will still be in place, and in use, up to 30 or 40 years' time. Investors need certainty and reduced regulatory risk.

Against that background, the European Commission recently published a Green Paper on a 2030 framework for climate and energy policies. It represents a key step in EU policy development. It provides a basis for a focused debate on shaping the 2030 framework for climate and energy policies that is in the broader context of structured and cost-effective transition to a low-carbon, competitive and secure European economy. In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the Green Paper proposed that the EU needs to adopt a 40% reduction target for 2030 in order to remain on track to achieve the overarching EU objective of an 80% to 95% reduction by 2050.

At an informal joint meeting in Dublin last month, EU environment and energy Ministers welcomed the Green Paper as a timely and well focussed policy initiative. The political importance of providing certainty on a 2030 climate and energy policy framework was strongly supported. That was done in the interest of investment, economic competitiveness and growth, and EU leadership in the international negotiations under the UN climate convention.

Publication of the Green Paper triggered a period of stakeholder consultation that will run up to the beginning of July. The European Commission has signalled its intention to issue an initial response to the consultation before the end of 2013. We are unlikely to know the final shape of a 2030 framework for some time. However, the level of ambition proposed in the Green Paper on greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy and energy efficiency has provided a clear signal for member states in terms of 2030 milestones. It is consistent with a cost-effective pathway to a competitive, low-carbon European economy in 2050.

In parallel with the 2030 Green Paper, the Commission also published a consultative communication on the international negotiations under the UN climate convention. The objective of the communication is to stimulate a debate with member states, EU institutions and stakeholders on how best to shape the international climate regime, in anticipation of a new climate treaty being finalised towards the end of 2015 and to come into effect from 2020.

EU environment Ministers, at the informal Council meeting last month, welcomed the communication and the consultation that it initiates. Recognising the need to close the gap to the international objective of limiting the increase in global average temperature to 2°C above pre-industrial levels, the Council highlighted the importance of EU leadership. It also underscored the need to move away from the developed and developing country distinction, and to secure an agreement under which all major economies commit to take action according to their current and future capabilities. The parties to the UN Convention have entered a critical preparatory period for the 2015 conference at which we expect that a new treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol will be agreed. EU leadership on mobilising an effective global response to climate change, that Ireland has consistently supported, will be critically important to a successful outcome.

This is an important time in the development of national climate policy and by that I mean in terms of the evolving policy context at EU and international level and the pursuit of a long-term vision of ourselves, as a progressive society, with a competitive, low-carbon economy. We have made good progress since the programme for the development of national climate policy and legislation was issued in January 2012. We welcome, in particular, the broadly constructive response of stakeholders to the process so far and the debate that the committee will now facilitate over the weeks and months ahead.

As the Minister said when he initiated the policy development process, there are no easy answers to the challenges we face. His intention is to ensure that the ultimate decisions on the way forward will be taken on the basis of a fair hearing, for all stakeholders, and will enjoy the broadest possible base of support. He identified the central role that the Oireachtas joint committee will play in the policy development process. He attached particular importance to the critical issue of reaching a clear national understanding of how we meet our binding EU and wider international mitigation commitments, as well as pursuing our national objectives in a low-carbon global economy. I hope the briefing will help the committee's preparation for its deliberations.

With the permission of the Chairman, I ask my colleague from the EPA, Dr. Frank McGovern to talk about the challenge and opportunity dimensions for the climate agenda in a little more detail.