Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 857: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on the merits of implementing a climate change Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11230/09]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The recent climate change package adopted by the European Union includes legally binding limits on the greenhouse gas emissions of each Member State for the period to 2020.

I also support the concept of enshrining climate change targets in domestic legislation. However, as I have stated previously, I believe that the challenge we face, in terms of the necessary scale of emission reductions, demands an all-party approach on targets and objectives. I hope that agreement can be achieved through the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security, which would create the conditions in which legislation could be progressed.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 858: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he attended the most recent environment Ministers meeting at EU level; the position he took at that meeting regarding climate change targets; the steps he is taking at EU level to push for EU targets to be increased to 30%; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11231/09]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I attended the recent meeting of the Environment Council in Brussels on 2 March 2009. In my interventions, I supported the comprehensive conclusions prepared by the Presidency in response to the European Commission communication 'Towards Copenhagen'. The agreed conclusions, inter alia, reiterate both the need to limit the increase in global temperature to less than 2°C compared with pre-industrial levels, and the commitment of the EU to move to a 30% greenhouse gas emission reduction target (compared to 1990 levels) in the context of a comprehensive global agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. I am pleased that the EU Heads of State and Government endorsed both points in conclusions adopted at the Spring meeting of the European Council last week.

Agreement this year on a new international agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol is an absolute priority in terms of an effective global response to climate change. I believe that emissions from developed countries must be reduced by at least 30% by 2020 and I am continuing to press for that level of commitment in the international negotiations.