Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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182. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which the level of greenhouse gas emissions continues to be monitored, with particular reference to reductions in line with national and international guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16099/15]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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187. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which this country remains compliant with international carbon reduction targets; the programme for the future in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16104/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 182 and 187 together.

In Ireland, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prepares inventories of greenhouse gas emissions, which are compilations of historical greenhouse gas emissions from sources such as transport, power generation, industry and agriculture. The most recent year for which provisional data are available is 2013 which can be accessed on the EPA’s website at the following link:.

In relation to compliance with our international carbon reduction obligations, Ireland is on course to comply with its greenhouse gas emission reduction target for the purposes of the Kyoto Protocol in the commitment period 2008 to 2012. The Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, which establishes a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol from 2013 to 2020, was agreed in 2012 but has not yet entered into force. Ireland has completed the necessary domestic acceptance procedures in relation to the Doha Amendment and will be in a position to formally accept it in the third quarter of 2015.

For each year between 2013 and 2020, Ireland has an ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction target under the 2009 EU Effort-Sharing Decision (406/2009/EC). Furthermore, in October 2014, the European Council endorsed a binding EU target of an at least 40% domestic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and specified that the target will be delivered collectively by the EU in the most cost-effective manner possible, with the reductions in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and non-ETS sectors amounting to 43% and 30% by 2030 compared to 2005, respectively. While the specific details of the contribution to be made by each Member State remain to be defined, the Council agreed that all Member States will participate in this effort, balancing considerations of fairness and solidarity.

The extent of the challenge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in line with our EU and international commitments, is well understood by Government, as reflected in the National Policy Position on Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development, published in April 2014, and in the Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development Bill 2015, published in January this year. The National Policy Position provides a high-level policy direction for the adoption and implementation by Government of plans to enable the State to move to a low-carbon economy by 2050. Proposed statutory authority for the plans is set out in the Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development Bill 2015.

In anticipation of enactment of the planned legislation, work is already under way on developing a low-carbon plan - the National Mitigation Plan - the primary objective of which will be to track implementation of measures already under way and identify additional measures within the longer term to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and progress the overall national low carbon transition agenda to 2050. I am satisfied that Ireland is on course to comply with the annual mitigation targets under the 2009 EU Effort-Sharing Decision (406/2009/EC) in the first half of the 2013-2020 compliance period. However, there will be a significant compliance challenge in the years 2017-2020 and therefore the first iteration of the National Mitigation Plan will place particular focus on putting the necessary measures in place to address this particular challenge in the years 2017 to 2020 but also in terms of planning ahead to ensure that appropriate policies and measures will be in place beyond that. It is also important to note that the Bill will provide for long-term successive planning in this respect.

2015 will be a pivotal year in terms of the international response to climate change. Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are working to conclude a new global agreement in Paris in December. Ireland, through the EU, is playing its part in these negotiations. The October 2014 European Council Conclusions agreed the headline targets for the EU for the period to 2030 and these form the basis of the EU’s intended nationally-determined contribution (INDC) to the new agreement, which was submitted to the UN Secretariat on 6 March 2015.