Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. Can I take it that the existing NECP will be submitted and then the Minister will work on a new version of it that will strengthen aspects of it? During the consultation process, many environmental groups raised a number of issues such as the need for: an overall economy-wide carbon budget to included in the document; a plan for the cessation of offshore fossil fuel exploration; a formal revision of the national mitigation plan; and nature-based solutions to be incorporated into it, which I am very passionate about. We tend to silo issues of biodiversity against issues of technological advances when it comes to climate. Is the Minister prepared to take nature-based solutions into consideration in the new NECP?

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