Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

Climate change is rightly gaining increasing recognition as one of the greatest challenges to face humankind. Its effects respect no national boundaries. The consequences are felt globally and can only be addressed on an international scale. Ireland has been and remains a highly active participant in the processes at both EU and UN level. This creates its own challenges for Ireland, not least with respect to tackling the need to radically reshape our economy over the next generation and beyond. For that reason, Ireland, as part of the European Union, has been playing its part under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, in addressing greenhouse gas emissions for which it is responsible. In this regard, the EU's so-called effort sharing decision of 2009 sets down national mitigation targets for the period 2013 to 2020, inclusive. These national targets mirror, by design, what is required under the UNFCCC in the second Kyoto commitment period.

Setting mitigation targets is one thing but achieving them is a very different thing, as all Members are aware. This is all the more important as both the EU agenda and the international agenda is to reduce incrementally greenhouse gas emissions so that developed economies become substantively decarbonised by the year 2050. In other words, Ireland cannot simply concern itself with the short to medium term but must look decades ahead to where and how to decarbonise on a national scale. Decarbonising the economy will unquestionably create challenges but it will also bring about significant opportunities that many in the Irish business community are already embracing.

To this end, in April 2014, the Government approved a national climate policy position setting out a long-term vision of low-carbon transition based on an aggregate reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of at least 80%, compared to 1990 levels, by 2050, across the electricity generation, built environment and transport sectors; in parallel, an approach to carbon neutrality in the agriculture and land-use sector, including forestry, does not compromise capacity for sustainable food production.

This long-term vision is an ambitious one, demanding real and meaningful change in how we as a society live, work and travel. Achieving both our immediate mitigation targets up to 2020 and those that will be set on an incremental basis up to 2030, 2040 and 2050 will not be an easy task. It will require a whole-of-government response and hence the need to have a robust institutional framework in place. The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015 provides for this. I wish to be clear that this Bill is not designed to set out specific policy measures. We need a dynamic approach to the policy measures that is prepared to react to technological developments across various sectors. We need all sectors to contribute in the context of decarbonisation whether that be as technology takers or indeed as providing innovation of their own. This Bill is designed to ensure that the State demands a relentless focus from each sector but without setting limits on what can be achieved.

The Bill is about instituting an open, accountable, transparent process that requires the whole of government to engage in a specific and planned mitigation process; to lay plans before this House; to justify in a public forum the actions or inaction of those contributing to the process; and to motivate all sectors of the State to further the decarbonisation agenda. In other words, the Bill is designed to provide the institutional arrangements required to enable the reshaping of the economy towards low-carbon development over the next 40 years and beyond. I note that some of those who criticised the Bill did not make this much progress during their time in Government.

I wish to highlight to the House that when this Bill is enacted, Ireland, the country we all serve, will be one of only a handful of member states within the EU with specific national climate change legislation on their statute books. Therein lies the ambition and commitment to drive forward with national plans which encompass low-emission strategies and climate-resilient economic growth. In this regard, the Bill is among the most significant this Government will introduce during its term.

It has been suggested that we should enshrine in the Bill a long-term mitigation target for 2050, akin to the long-term vision outlined in the national climate policy position. Although I appreciate that it might be tempting to co-opt this vision for use in legislation, I believe that this would be the wrong course of action. In the first instance, that long-term vision, if it were inscribed in legislation, might interfere with the EU's target-setting process. Second, we could run the risk of setting a numerical mitigation target in legislation which may render the State subject to legal action thereafter. We operate within a legislative European framework and we are subject to effort-sharing decisions in terms of how mitigation targets are set and agreed. Were we to institute our own targets that were less demanding than those set at EU level, then the latter would take precedence and our legislative targets would be rendered redundant. Alternatively, were our mitigation targets more demanding than those determined at EU level, we would run the risk of putting Ireland at a competitive disadvantage compared to our EU partners which would not be a desirable outcome.

Setting our own targets, even on a long-term basis, would not only interfere with the European process, but it cause the State to be subject to legal action. I ask if we would want the State to be focused on legal proceedings or whether our resources would be more usefully employed in assessing new technologies, new efficient energy production mechanisms, sustainable planning and transport policy, or information technology aimed at decarbonising production processes. I think it would be the latter option. The European targets in place for 2020 which are legally binding will prove extremely challenging to achieve and will represent the primary focus of our efforts in developing our first national mitigation plan. Adding further targets to this scenario will only complicate the process further and divert focus from where it is needed. In my view, targets can only be realised by putting in place appropriate and proportionate mitigation policy measures across the sectors with the most significant emissions. There is no shortcut. That is why the Bill focuses so much on institutional arrangements for ensuring that such sectoral mitigation measures can be developed, approved and most important, implemented.

It is important to note that there is no internationally agreed definition of a low-carbon economy, with many terms used in different circumstances, such as the green economy, green-collar jobs, the environmental economy and eco-industry. I could add many more to that list.

While I fully subscribe to the principal of low carbon, not least because it reduces energy costs, I see a significant risk in trying to define it in Irish legislation, particularly where there would be potential to restrict the breadth of activities that could conceivably contribute to lowering carbon dioxide emissions. As mentioned earlier, with fast-moving innovations and new markets emerging for goods and services, any definition of what is regarded as low carbon could well be outdated very quickly, so it is not appropriate to lock into primary legislation such a dynamic definition. This in no way limits our commitment to delivering alow-carbon economy in time. On the contrary, keeping a definition of "low carbon" outside of legislation should expand our scope over time in terms of achieving delivery.

There has been much commentary on the timeframes in the Bill, namely that the national mitigation plan must be prepared and submitted to the Government for approval by me as Minister within 24 months of the passing of the Act. In the first instance, I stress that this timeframe represents a maximum - which has not been much observed - and that every effort will be made to have the national mitigation plan in place earlier. However, we also need to take heed of where consultation is appropriate and, as covered by section 2 of the Bill, where the State needs to show commitment to existing obligations under EU law, such as those relating to the strategic environmental directive and the habitats directive. Failure to adhere to these European legislative requirements would not only leave the plans open to legal challenge but would also reduce the effectiveness of the plans themselves in terms of how the respective assessment processes can potentially contribute in a positive manner to the overall development of the plans. I would like to think we could all be in agreement in terms of allowing due process in these matters and giving appropriate consideration to relevant matters when and where required. It is imperative that we allow sufficient contingency in respect of having the time available to do the right thing, as opposed to the rushed thing.

I also welcome the debate on the expert advisory council and its role as provided for in the Bill. As the Members present are aware, the expert advisory council shall consist of a chairperson and between eight and ten ordinary members, four of whom shall be ex officio members, namely, the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, Teagasc and the Economic and Social Research Institute. Within this structure, it is important to note that the majority of the members who will sit on this council are independent of Government Departments and agencies, which will provide the necessary balance to underpin the independent nature of the advice to be provided in furthering the transition to a low-carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by the year 2050.

I believe the composition of the expert advisory council will strike the right balance, which is needed, between academic rigour and practical implementation, by providing a service which helps us navigate a course towards our mitigation targets, which are ambitious, and rightly so, yet achievable. Let me be very clear on this: I regard the independence of the experts on the group as being key to the overall process. We will achieve the best results by combining the efforts of these key experts with the State's environmentally focused agencies, which are already in and of themselves highly committed to the principles of a low-carbon economy.

In terms of climate justice, it is important that we recognise our collective historical responsibility in relation to climate change and, in particular, that we recognise and address the fact that those least responsible for climate change often experience its greatest impacts. Few, if any, of us would doubt the validity of the concept, but we must also ask ourselves how best we should go about supporting those in developing countries when it comes to climate change. In my view, climate justice is a matter that should be dealt with by policy as opposed to trying to define it in legislation.

The single most important contribution any developed country can make to climate justice is to honour its greenhouse gas mitigation commitments. This is what the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill is all about - putting in place an institutional framework to ensure that robust mitigation policy measures are developed in a timely fashion.

Moreover, as I have previously mentioned, it is important to note that despite extraordinarily difficult fiscal circumstances, Ireland has maintained significant support, including public finance, for climate action on adaptation in developing countries, and is committed, through ongoing discussions at senior official level, to finding sustainable ways to continue this support where need is greatest.

The Bill sets out the national objective of transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable economy in the period up to and including the year 2050. In doing so, it gives a solid statutory foundation to the institutional arrangements necessary to enable the State to pursue and achieve that national transition objective. In this regard, the Bill addresses both the mitigation and adaptation responses to climate change. That is, it deals with reducing national greenhouse gas emissions as well as adapting to the inevitable effects of climate change in Ireland.

Because both mitigation and adaptation require new policy measures across the whole of Government, the Bill provides that relevant Ministers of the Government will be required to contribute, on a sectoral basis, to the national mitigation plans and the sectoral adaptation plans which fall out of the national adaptation framework. This is an important institutional requirement, as climate change encompasses such a wide range of areas, including agriculture, transport, energy, the built environment, forestry and flood defence.

The Bill before us today contains 16 sections. To use the time allocated to me in an effective manner, I will focus on the key provisions. Section 3 provides for the preparation and submission to the Government by me as Minister of a national mitigation plan and a national adaptation framework for the purpose of pursuing and achieving the transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by the end of 2050, in what is known in the Bill as the "national transition objective".

Section 4, one of the most important sections of the Bill, provides for the preparation and approval of iterative five-year national mitigation plans which shall specify the policy measures to achieve the national transition objective and, in particular, the greenhouse gas mitigation policy measures to be adopted by selected Ministers of the Government. The first such national mitigation plan must be prepared and submitted to the Government for approval by me as Minister within 24 months of the passing of the Act. Prior to the making of a national mitigation plan, a public consultation exercise must be undertaken and we must have regard to any submissions made pursuant to such an exercise. A national mitigation plan must be laid before the Dáil after it has been approved by the Government.

Section 5 provides for the making and submission to the Government of iterative national adaptation frameworks, which shall specify the national strategy for the application of adaptation measures in various sectors and by local authorities in order to reduce the vulnerability of the State to the negative effects of climate change and to avail of any positive effects that may occur. The first such framework must be prepared and submitted to the Government by me as Minister within a maximum of 24 months of the passing of the Act. As with the national mitigation plans, prior to the making of a national adaptation framework, a public consultation exercise must be undertaken. The national adaptation framework must also be laid before the Dáil after it has been approved by the Government.

Section 6 concerns itself with sectoral adaptation plans. Arising from a national adaptation framework, which specifies the national strategy for the application of adaptation measures in various sectors, relevant Ministers of the Government shall be required by the Government to prepare and submit to the Government within a specified period a sectoral adaptation plan. Each such plan shall specify the adaptation policy measures to enable adaptation to the effects of climate change to be achieved by that sector and to enable the achievement of the national transition objective.

Section 7 is concerned with matters that must be taken into account, including consultation, for the purpose of making a national adaptation framework and sectoral adaptation plans, including the promotion of sustainable development and not imposing an unreasonable burden on the Exchequer. Relevant scientific and technical advice must also be considered, while consultation with the national expert advisory council on climate change on the performance of its functions is also covered.

Section 8 mandates the establishment of a national expert advisory council on climate change to provide independent advice to Ministers and the Government in respect of climate change matters, while section 9 outlines how the members of the council will be appointed, including the range of qualifications, expertise and experience necessary for the proper and effective performance of the functions of the expert advisory council. It is essential that the most appropriate range of skills be brought to the table to address the key areas concerned, whether from an environmental, a social or an economic perspective. The chairperson and ordinary members of the expert advisory council, other than, of course, the ex officio members, shall be appointed by the Government on my nomination. As stated earlier, the independence of the expert group is a key priority for me.

In terms of practical arrangements, the Environmental Protection Agency is charged with providing the expert advisory council with appropriate secretarial and administrative services, as well as permitting it to use its premises for the purpose of the performance of its functions. At a time of straightened fiscal circumstances, this will greatly reduce the operating costs of the expert advisory council.

Section 11 sets down, in general terms, the functions of the expert advisory council. These functions include advising and making recommendations to Ministers and the Government in respect of a national mitigation plan, a national adaptation framework, sectoral adaptation plans and any policy relating to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to the effects of climate change in the State. For the purposes of performing its functions, the expert advisory council may gather such information and meet and consult with such persons as it alone considers appropriate. In addition to its general advice-giving functions, section 12 sets down that the expert advisory council shall conduct an annual review of progress in achieving greenhouse gas emissions reductions and in furthering the national transition objective. Pursuant to such an annual review, the council is then required to prepare an annual report and publish it directly not more than 30 days after submitting it to myself as Minister.

Section 13 provides that, in addition to an annual report, the expert advisory council may conduct a periodic review of mitigation and adaptation measures in the State and publish directly the corresponding periodic review report not less than 60 and not more than 90 days after submitting it to myself as Minister.

As a meaningful and comprehensive exercise in transparency and accountability, section 14 mandates that an annual transition statement shall be presented to the Dáil.

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