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

Meeting Ireland's EU targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and 2030 will be extremely challenging. The latest projections of greenhouse gas emissions, published by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, in April 2017, indicate that emissions from those sectors of the economy covered by Ireland's 2020 targets could be between 4% and 6% below 2005 levels by 2020 in the context of a target that emissions should be 20% below their 2005 levels. The projected shortfall in our targets reflects both the constrained investment capacity over the past decade due to the economic crisis, and the extremely challenging nature of the target itself. In fact, it is now accepted that Ireland's 2020 target was not consistent with what would be achievable on an EU wide cost-effective basis. For 2030, the recently agreed EU effort sharing regulation sets out binding annual greenhouse gas emission targets for each member state for the period 2021 to 2030. Ireland’s target under this regulation will be for a 30% reduction in 2005 levels of emissions by 2030.

To meet these targets, Ireland's first statutory national mitigation plan, which I published in July last year, provides a framework to guide investment decisions by Government in domestic measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of the plan is to specify the policy measures required in order to manage Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions at a level appropriate for making progress towards our long-term national transition objective as set out in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, as well as to take into account existing EU and international obligations on the State in relation to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Although this first plan will not provide a complete roadmap to achieve the national transition objective to 2050, it begins the process of development of medium and long-term options to ensure that we are well positioned to take the necessary actions in the next and future decades.

Building on the national mitigation plan, the publication in February of the national development plan will lead to a significant step change in funding available for climate action over the next decade. Almost €22 billion will be directed, between Exchequer and non-Exchequer resources, which is €1 in every €5 of all the funding set out in the national development plan.

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