Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy that is Government is very serious about climate change.

The 21st conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, known as COP21, is currently taking place in Paris and is scheduled to run until tomorrow when some 196 parties, including Ireland, will hopefully finalise a new legally binding global agreement on climate change. An ambitious global agreement is in Ireland’s interests, in that it will protect us from the impacts of climate change and allow us to pursue a transition to a low-carbon future on a level playing field with other countries. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, is currently heading up the Irish delegation in Paris and assisting with the negotiations as part of the EU team.

Regarding our 2020 target, the latest EPA projections indicate that while we may come close to meeting our cumulative emissions targets for the period 2013 to 2020, due in part to overachievement in the early years of the period, our actual emissions in 2020 will most likely fall short of the headline target figure of a reduction of 20%. It was in this respect that the Taoiseach made reference to the significant challenges that Ireland will face in terms of meeting whatever targets are set for us in 2030.  What compounds this challenge is the limited potential for mitigation in the agriculture sector and also the impact of the economic recession on our ability to invest. 

However, the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015, soon to be enacted, gives a solid statutory foundation to the institutional arrangements necessary to enable the State to pursue and achieve the national transition objective of a low carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by the year 2050.

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