Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We are lucky and proud to have the public service that we have, whose staff are independent, straight and hard working. This is going to put them to the test. This legislation, more than anything else, is going to put significant demands on them. I will set out in the provisions how they will do their work and what they are going to do in the next 30 years.

As is proper procedure during the Second Reading of the Bill I will now set out the provisions in the Bill. At the core of this Bill is the national climate objective, which commits the State to pursue and achieve a transition to a climate resilient, biodiversity rich, environmentally sustainable and climate-neutral economy by no later than 2050.

The Bill defines a climate-neutral economy as a sustainable economy and society where greenhouse gas emissions in the State are balanced or exceeded by the removal of greenhouse gases. This commitment is clear and consistent with delivering on our obligations under the Paris climate agreement. That is what we are implementing in this Bill.

The Bill as a whole, and not only the national climate objective, is underpinned by our international obligations and informed by science. The Bill requires the Government to carry out its functions under the Bill in a manner consistent with the objectives of, and the State's obligations to, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and Article 2 and 4(1) of the Paris Agreement, and which also takes account of Ireland's greenhouse gas inventory and projection reports.

The Bill reflects the need to provide a strong and clear governance framework to achieve its ambition and will permanently cement a strengthened statutory framework to drive this transformative change over time. To this end, the Bill provides that the State must, first, prepare five-year carbon budgets, which cover all of Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions; apportion each five-year carbon budget among key emitting sectors and establish emission ceilings for those sectors; define the key Ministers responsible for achieving emissions reductions in these sectors and make them accountable for doing so; prepare an annual climate action plan that describes the actions every Minister will take to achieve his or her sectoral emissions ceilings; and develop a national long-term climate action strategy at least every five years that describes the mitigation and adaptation policies that we will put in place towards meeting the national climate objective.

There is recognition of the need for early action. Realising the importance of near-to-medium term action to enable the achievement of climate neutrality by mid-century, the Bill ensures our efforts are front-loaded and provides that the first two carbon budgets will provide a 51% reduction in the annual level of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. This enacted commitment, which will be one of the most ambitious of any developed country, is informed by climate science and in line with the increased ambition at EU level and the commitment in the programme for Government.

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