Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 34  and 41  together.

In line with the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, I am required to prepare and submit a national mitigation plan to Government for approval no later than 10 June 207. An important milestone in this work, and one required under the legislation, was reached last week when I published a draft of the national mitigation plan for public consultation. This consultation will help inform further work in my own Department and across Government to finalise the plan later this year. The consultation is an essential part of the process of public and stakeholder engagement on the challenges we face to meet our existing commitments and to begin the longer term process of transitioning Ireland to a low-carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by 2050.  

The draft plan has been prepared through close collaboration across all relevant Government Departments and, in particular, by the key Ministers responsible to the four sectors covered by the plan, including electricity generation, the built environment, transport and agriculture, forestry and land use.

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This has been overseen by an interdepartmental national mitigation plan steering group as well as by both the senior officials group and the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure, Environment and Climate Action. Technical support has been provided to all the sectors by the technical research and modelling group which operates under my Department. In addition, the Climate Change Advisory Council was established as an independent statutory body under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015. Its role is to assess and advise Government on policy related to climate change.

As well as mechanisms to ensure interdepartmental co-operation, we also need to engage wider society with the challenge of climate change, motivate changes in behaviour and create structures at local, regional and national levels to support the generation of ideas and their transition into appropriate cost-effective actions.  To this end, I announced recently details of a national dialogue on climate action.

It is important to note that the first national mitigation plan represents an initial step to set us on the pathway to achieve the level of decarbonisation required by 2050. It does not provide a complete roadmap to achieve the 2050 objective but rather is a work in progress reflecting the reality of where we are in our decarbonisation transition. When finalised, the plan will become a living document that will be accessible on my Department's website and which will be continually updated as ongoing analysis, dialogue and technological innovation generate more and more cost-effective sectoral mitigation options. In addition, there will be a formal preparation of successive national mitigation plans at least once every five years as provided for in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015.

I intend that these arrangements will continue to provide a clear Government focus to drive the ongoing development and implementation of the mitigation plan.

In terms of our 2020 emissions reduction targets under the EU’s effort sharing decision, it is expected, on the basis of the latest projections prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency, that we will fall short of meeting this target. The first national mitigation plan will provide the framework for continued work towards meeting our 2020 targets. Equally important, it will also begin the development of medium-term to long-term options to ensure that we are well positioned to take the necessary actions in the next and future decades.

On renewable energy targets, Ireland is committed to achieving this target through meeting 40% of electricity demand, 12% of heat and 10% of transport from renewable sources of energy, with the latter target also being legally binding. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland has estimated that 25.3% of electricity, 6.5% of heat and 5.7% of transport energy requirements were met from renewable sources at end 2015.

The Government has a range of policy measures and schemes to incentivise the use of renewable energy and although good progress towards the target has been made to date meeting the 16% target remains challenging. My Department is currently developing a proposed new renewable electricity support scheme and a new renewable heat incentive scheme, designed to assist in meeting our renewable energy supply - electricity, RES-E, and renewable energy supply - heat, RES-H, targets. The introduction of any new scheme, including the overall costs and technologies to be supported, will be subject to Government approval and state aid clearance from the European Commission.

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