Dáil debates

Wednesday, 15 July 2020

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions

Climate Action Plan

11:15 am

Photo of Jennifer WhitmoreJennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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18. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when he will work with the European Commission to advance a stronger national energy and climate plan, NECP, for 2030; when the plan will be submitted; the way in which he plans to make the plan a stronger document; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16063/20]

Photo of Jennifer WhitmoreJennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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I wish the Minister well in his new role. I look forward to working with him. We have many of the same goals and I hope we can progress those during this Dáil.

The NECP was due to be submitted to the EU at the end of 2019 but was delayed because of the general election and the Government formation process. When will the Minister work with the European Commission to advance a stronger national energy and climate plan for 2030? When will the Department submit the NECP, which was previously on hold due to having an interim Government in place? How does he plan to make the NECP a stronger document? I ask him to make a statement on the matter.

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I look forward to working with the Deputy and bringing her expertise into play on where we go from here.

There was an informal meeting of the European Council of environment ministers yesterday. Frans Timmermans, the vice-president of the European Commission, set out the approach the Commission is planning to take this autumn and into the new year under the German Presidency. The German minister also outlined that. We hope to see and be part of a major acceleration in ambition across the European Union to help the Union play its part in meeting the Paris climate goals. In that regard I expect to have a further phone call with the vice-president of the Commission, tomorrow I think, to set out our plans for progressing the NECP. I understand data have already been submitted setting out the emissions reduction that could come from the existing climate action plan.

That may well provide a baseline for our contribution but we will immediately switch to working with the European Commission. By the end of September they are looking to do an assessment of what increased ambition might be possible across different nation states, taking into account those baseline national energy and climate plan, NECP, submissions. We look to have climate legislation in the autumn that would commit the European Union towards a net zero 2050 target in CO2 reductions, with a new effort-sharing mechanism to show how the EU as a whole would achieve that by 2030. If this is agreed by the European Union, which I hope it can be by the end of this year, it will lead to the development of a new NECP, which will meet and match the newer higher target that the programme for Government commits to. That is the process I see us working on with the European Union to deliver higher ambition. It has to involve engagement with the Oireachtas joint committee, the special Cabinet sub-committee on climate action, biodiversity and the environment, and all actors in Irish society. This must be central to the new national economic plan. The approach I look to take will put in our baseline what the climate action plan shows, we will immediately start working with the European Commission on how we set out a higher ambition target and get agreement in the European Council for that, and then deliver the NECP, which will deliver on that sort of commitment. That is the approach I am thinking of taking.

11:25 am

Photo of Jennifer WhitmoreJennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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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?

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Yes to most, or all, of those comments. The Commission will work now on the new higher ambitions. Sending in the outgoing NECP proposal around the climate action plan will give us a baseline by which the new Commission can do its assessment of what a higher ambition will target, and how we would contribute to the higher ambition of at least 50% to 55% emission reductions across the European Union. This is what we now need to work on with the Commission, having moved on from the old baseline level, which everyone agrees now needs to be increased.

The Deputy also referred to offshore oil and gas exploration, and I would include imports of liquefied natural gas, LNG. We have to achieve that objective at the same time. Critically, I agree with the Deputy on that central fact. I will also seek to call the Cabinet environment committee the committee on climate action, biodiversity and the environment. We are in a biodiversity crisis, as well as a climate crisis, and the solutions to the climate crisis will help us in addressing the biodiversity crisis in a whole range of different ways. It is absolutely critical that we do this as an integrated project, and not just tackle the climate crisis but also the biodiversity crisis at the same time. I wholeheartedly agree with the Deputy on that.

Photo of Jennifer WhitmoreJennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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It will be very important to bring people along on this journey with us. What does the Minister propose for engagement and consultation over the coming year? It seems there will be a considerable body of work to be done in that regard. How will the Minister involve our community and expert involvement in that? How will the Minister ensure that this document becomes, essentially, a living document? Scientific knowledge and technological advances are happening all the time. How do we make sure to incorporate those advances on an ongoing basis to make the NECP the most up-to-date plan based on best scientific knowledge at the time?

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Dialogue is key. The Oireachtas committee will have a role in that. We represent communities and can provide a forum where people can come in, on the record, to engage in the whole process. We also need to go beyond that and beyond the regional assemblies that have been set up so far, to much more local and detailed discussions on what this transition is going to look like. From my perspective, the broad European approach gives us room because it is not a case of top down or that the Commission knows best. It is trying to agree on the broad, overall effort-sharing arrangement, while leaving nation states free to be flexible around the solutions that exist. The climate fund, which allows communities or businesses to come forward with ideas, is a good example of the existence of bottom-up solutions here and not just top down. We will debate the National Oil Reserves Agency (Amendment) and Provision of Central Treasury Services Bill 2020 later today, which will help to support that. Critically, and particularly in areas such as retrofitting of homes, improvement of local environment through afforestation, rewetting or through other mechanisms, it will not work with just a top-down approach. It has to involve community engagement, community energy and the supply of new systems. That involves us listening and engaging with local communities to make it their plan.